The Illusion of Caring

The Illusion of Caring

My wife and I have recently rented the entire DVD collection of Roots from Netflix and last night we watched the first episode. I want to unpack a premise which I have titled, "The Illusion of Caring", because I think that there is an overwhelming sense of urgency within the spectrum of Christian traditions to move into the the practical implications of this phrase. One example that I will use to describe this allusion of caring will be from the above mentioned mini-series, Roots, in order to demonstrate that individuals alone can not shoulder the burden of changing how Christians are called to care for those in need. I will attempt to show that Christians who desire to show some degree of care for the oppressed, must be part of a larger community of people who are also committed to this venture. Humans in isolation who can garner the strength to stand against these awful institutions of oppression will in essence manifest this "Allusion of caring", but human beings tend to be one dimensional creatures and this poses the threat of being re-made into the image of the exact institution which supports the oppression.

Part 1:
In the first episode of Roots, the Captain of the slave ship, The Lord Ligonier claimed Christianity and is initially outspoken in his system of belief in God. He is portrayed in this movie as having a facade of care in the initial stages of learning that he is being appointed to make his first voyage to kidnap and transport 170 African slaves back to the America's. The viewer is made to think that the Captain is deeply perplexed concerning participating in this endeavor, because while taking inventory for the ship, he does not want to use a device which controls the slaves through a thumb press, which looks like a screw attached to a wooden device which will hold the thumb in a pressurized location. Apparently this thumb press is inhumane in controlling the slaves on the ship, as opposed to the absolute horror of transporting human beings involuntarily from one nation to another. The Captain appears often perplexed and demonstrates this allusion of caring as he reflects on his voyage (head tilted to the side, gazing upwardly, with vexed look) and engages in debate with the second in command on the ship as to the moral principles associated with the slave trade. Apparently if Christians tilt their head to the side and look concerned, God looks favorably upon this allusion that we give a ....! The second in command on The Lord Ligonier has already participated in 18 slave trips to Africa and is well versed on the techniques for capturing, transporting, and selling the slaves. His influence over the Captain is very clear in his interactions during this voyage.

Alongside my viewing of Roots, I am also reading a book entitled; Recovering the Scandal of the Cross (for a third time) by Dr. Joel Green (Fuller Theological Seminary). The framework for this book unpacks the premise that the cross should be scandalous to our way of thinking and knowing God. The Christian tradition over the past thousand years has interpreted the crucifixion of Jesus through the lens that the cross simply "pays for the penalty for our sins and appeases the wrath of God". This understanding of Jesus' crucifixion is known as, 'Penal Substitutionary Atonement' and was developed in the 11th century has not changed that much into the 21st century according to Green. Penal Substitution basically says that Jesus stood in the place of humans and took upon himself God's wrath for the sin of humanity, which in essence appeased an angry God and therefore, allowed humans to once again know God, since his wrath was subdued. (My words) In essence, although the penal substitution model attempted to make sense of the social norms in the 11th century, it does not due justice to the historical reality that Jesus died a death as a Roman agitator and the only way Jesus would be thought of as an agitator would have been to challenge the Roman imperial policies of his day. The reason that I am speaking about any of this is because it fits with how we view our lack of action in relation to social issues. The crux of the crucifixion of Jesus fits with Jesus' direct interaction with the practices of Israel and Jesus' own statements of kingship over against the kingship of Caesar. If Jesus stood against the powers which were attempting to destroy humans for the sake of the elite, then what would this mean in relation to the churches ministry? Simply placing an atonement theory in place of truly understanding the dynamics behind the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus does not due justice to God's mission in the world. I am attempting to relate the Christian traditions use of atonement theories to the Christian traditions support of unjust practices such as the slave trade.

The difference of course in Jesus' way of challenge and other counter revolutionaries that came before and after (Barabbas as being a good example) is that Jesus did not pick up the sword to overthrow by violence, but bore the violence of humanity into his own body. Therefore, the invitation by Jesus to "take up your cross and follow me" in Matthew 16:24, could have been interpreted by the faith community as being embodied in the counter revolutionary act aimed at subverting the system of oppression contained in the slave trade. The Captain not simply looks perplexed and strained at participating in this horrible industry, but engages with other Christians who offer a language more in line with the voice of God and he says no to the British Imperial Crown, i.e the systems of the world which Paul talks about and suffers the fate associated with counter worldly wisdom. His fate is that he loses his position as Captain, he no longer makes the money which procure for him a life of luxury, and people no longer heap upon him complements for the position he holds. In turn, he gains freedom to say and do those difficult tasks to which Jesus calls his followers. His position as Captain no longer matters, because the community of faith embraces him as having suffered along with his Lord and in a major way contributed to the release of those held in prisons (Luke 4). The paradox and scandal of the cross is that freedom is found in bearing the cross by becoming the exact image for another of the "good news" that yes, Jesus cares for how one is treated in society. The world continually proclaims very loudly that freedom is found by throwing off the boundaries, or throwing off any forms of authority, whereas it is not the boundaries and authorities which are the issue, but the domination systems associated with these boundaries and authorities. When one creates boundaries which are unable to be crossed at various moments. When authorities proclaim that they possess the truth and one must assimilate into their likeness in order to know the truth, this poses serious problems for truly understanding the dynamics behind systems of power.

As a Christian, I know that I am endowed with power by the Holy Spirit's direct action in the midst of the church, of which I participate through the communion of the saints of God. When this communion is broken through my participation with the communion of the systems of the world as described above in the slave industry, I must gain power through the direct demonization of another, since identification with those who suffer is usually non-existent. This poses a significant problem for Christians, since the call of Jesus is to "love God and love neighbor", this means we must somehow develop a way to address the problem of caring for those who are not as "blessed" as we are. How then should Christians trained in the ways of Western Civilization address caring for others? For the most part, we have followed the ways of the Enlightenment thinkers before us and tilted our heads to the side, looked concerned, and maybe even shed a tear or two at the suffering in the world. We then return to our vocations, our houses, and our isolated lives, afraid that real participation in the kingdom of God will cost too much.

Remember that Pentecost brought forth the Spirit of the living God, drawing people together from all tribes, tongues, and nations, forming a community of people who no longer were held by the bondage of property, but understood that all earth's abundance is truly a gift from God and the hoarding of property in lieu of the communion of the saints could cost Christians their lives (Annanias and Saphira). There is a degree of socialism within the structure of God's economy and only an economy of individualism would believe that each person provides for themselves. Individualism within the scope of the Captain of the slave ship contributed to his eventual demise, since he believed that he could be a Christian and participate in an evil industry. Roots does an incredible job in portraying how as the lone individual Christian on the ship, he slowly succumbs to the pressure of assimilating into the evil associated with being the Captain on a slave ship.

Although at any point the beautiful gift of grace would be available to this Captain, in my opinion his repentance, i.e. his turning away from this horrible industry would be needed to truly experience God's grace. I do believe that grace is always found in the midst of evil, but the continuing of participation with evil would in the end diminish the grace which we find in following Jesus. In order to truly follow Jesus, I must not make God into my image, but be recreated into the image of God, who brings the slave out of bondage, not into bondage.

We today have these same institutions and I continually struggle with our participation in them. Our world has created massive institutions, which make it very difficult to live outside of their powerful influence upon our lives. In Max Weber's, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, he very clearly examines how the individual vocations of Christians became their ministries from the Reformation onward and how this has affected the life of the church in Western culture. Without the community of faith standing alongside the the Captain of the slave ship, the power of the systems of the world will most likely ensnare him and all that he will be left with is an "illusion of caring."