A wonderful post by Jason Byassee from Christianity Today, regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright (hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for pointing it out):
Jeremiah Wright goes to church looking for Jesus. And that’s why evangelicals should pay attention to him. This is not to say they should agree with him. But Jeremiah Wright is a serious Christian. He didn’t have to be — many gifted black intellectuals have gotten off the bus with the church for having been, as it inarguably has, a slave religion. (Wright has argued with Muslim friends that its track record is no better on slavery.)
…Wright is staking his claim solely on Jesus — respectfully, of course, in dialogue with Islam and black nationalist thought — but he’s standing on the promises of this God. (It’s worth noting that the rest of the black church is not so enamored with Cone’s theology.)
Therefore charity requires that evangelicals do business with Wright. He, like them, is part of the body of Christ. Not less than John Hagee or Rod Parsley — extremist ministers aligned with John McCain —Wright’s churchmanship means he is more brother than enemy. One of the rhetorical missteps Wright has made is to say an attack on him is an attack on the black church, and to imply that a rejection of his theology makes one ipso facto a racist. This is simply untrue. If you disagree, go ahead — part of the reason we’re so bad at talking about race in this country is we’re all afraid to offend, so we leave it to the screamers on cable. Let Wright know what you think.
But expect him to give as good as he gets. He’s been at this a while. He has scratched and clawed for stronger schools, better support from the city, and above all, church growth on the far South Side of Chicago. He has taught that blacks should be proud of their heritage and never ashamed — and that they should do theology as subjects rather than objects. He’s summoned altar calls and prayed for healing (there is a subterranean charismatic ministry at Trinity) and led the people’s praise of Jesus for more then three decades. He has things to teach us. And, as ever in the church, he has points that could stand rebutting. But let’s keep those points in perspective. Wright’s break with America is no unforgivable sin — only blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is that.
I’m amazed at some fellow Christians who have heard Rev. Wright’s more extreme comments and immediately assumed that criticism of America is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Being Americans means we have the right and the duty to disagree, and being Christians means that we must always remember that the body of Christ is larger than any national boundary.
