Interrogating the Structures: Examining the Role of Theological Practice as Civilizing Force in America’s Construction of Race

The history of the African American experience in America has been shaped by “civilizer theology” which draws on dehumanizing theological interpretations to support and justify racism’s systems. “Civilizer theology”, coined by Dr. Ibram Kendi, posits that the theological practice of white evangelical Christianity in America has served, and continues to serve, as a powerful civilizing force shaping perceptions and traditions which are consideredessential parts of a civilized society.

This presentation traces three key ideas, cultural decay, authority and violence, arguing present-day understandings of these concepts by the white evangelical church are constructed and support by theological paradigms. These three ideas are consistently employed throughout American history using theologically constructed and rooted arguments to establish authority, justify violence and point out cultural decay, particularly in service to maintaining white power and control. This presentation argues that African Americans, in response to “civilizer theology”, through African American theological practice generate an opposing paradigm in response;namely, “civilizing theology”. This “civilizing theology” grapples with the same issues of cultural decay, violence and authority but works to reverse the cultural decay of “civilizer theology”, resist its call for violence against non-white bodies and establish spiritual authority against racist structures and behaviors. The conflict between “civilizer theology” and “civilizing theology” is essential to understanding the consistent absence of the white evangelical church, by-and-large, in supporting matters of African American liberation such as BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and mass incarceration. This presentation draws from a range of interdisciplinary sources bringing together the work of African American theologians (Cone, Hopkins), African American philosophers/historians (Kendi, Carter, Shelby, Hopkins) and sociological sources (Latour, Elias). 

This presentation relates to the symposium’s theme by naming the historical, often invisible, frameworks that shape, and were shaped by the white evangelical church’s claim to superiority in theological and cultural/societal practice.