A Theology of Whiteness

This will be dangerous work, these words. It be messy, and I will probably do it wrong. But it is important work. In fact, it might prove to be most important work, because it might be the key we are missing to our very own healing — as a nation, as a people, as a global community. It’s so important that I am willing to do it wrong, to put this out there and stand to be corrected, because someone has to pick up this sharp and pointy conversation, enter into it and swim among its thorns.

I am going to talk about whiteness.

First you should know that this is the beginning of a conversation, not my finished, end-of-story statement of opinion. In fact, this may just be the first in a series of posts about this topic.

Second you should know that this was inspired by greater thinkers than me, and by a series of events in my consciousness. Back in August, when I was at Christian Theological Seminary for a weeklong intensive class called Gateway to Theological Education, we had a nice, long talk about race. As has always been the case, these discussions were enlightening, exhausting, and incredibly necessary. It’s hard to talk about race, even among people who are coming to love each other. During that conversation, we talked a lot about white privilege, about the denial of white privilege by many white people, and we talked about ways in which we can all be…