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Paul and Ethnic Identity
(This is based on a bible study I gave for the Edmonton Episcopal Area Quiet Day on July 7th 2021. It relates partly to previous blogs on Identity #28 & Cultural Intelligence #31).)
I want to look at three passages where Paul is referring to his cultural identity. ‘Identity’ is often a hot topic today, and is a central issue in the ‘culture wars’, especially over sexuality and race or ethnicity; in large part because of the very high levels of individualism in our society. The journalist Tom Wolfe coined the term the ‘Me Generation’ 60 years ago, and it is a trend that has become embedded and permanent. It goes alongside with that we now have quite a weak sense of commitment to any overarching reality such as faith, nationhood, even royalty.
Today I want to look at three passages of Paul where he is referring to his ethnic identity, but I need to preface them with a warning about being over-eager to use ancient writings to address a modern concern, even obsession. In N T Wright’s massive book on Paul I sense a reluctance to major on the issue of identity because of the danger of squeezing Paul’s thoughts into our categories; the more so because Paul’s Jewish identity carried a specific theological load which an English or Jamaican or Indian or Ghanaian identity doesn’t carry. Nonetheless fools rush in where theologians fear to tread, so three passages where Paul refers to his cultural identity.
Romans 9:1-3
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people,[a] my kindred according to the flesh.
The clear emphasis in this passage is Paul’s very deep, emotional identification with ‘my own people, my kindred according to the flesh’ (v3). His desire for them to belong to Christ creates ‘unceasing anguish’ in him. He is prepared to lose his salvation in order for them to find it. Whilst in vv 4 & 5 he lists all that belongs to them through their unique calling, central is the fact they are ‘my own people’, according to the flesh. It is a physical, bodily reality – they are the people who look like him.
In English culture ‘kindred’, including cousins, uncles, aunties, matters far less than in most cultures, even so we feel the power of those bonds. My brother died from cancer 20 years ago, but I still feel the pain, the loss of his early death. It is right to have that gut identification with our own people; to affirm our belonging and appropriate pride in our heritage. Some friends had recently given their regular blood donation, and one commented how good that this country has blood given freely. It is right for me to have a sense of national pride – in one sense, it is an honouring of my father and mother; being glad from where I come from.
And the corollary of course, is that we want others to be glad about where they come from – for Tamils to be glad in being Tamils, for Yorubas to be glad in being Yorubas, for Jamaicans to be glad in being Jamaican, for Danes to be glad in being Danish.
Question to think about – what is it about my cultural identity I want to affirm?
Philippians 3:3-9
3 For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God[a] and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,[b] the righteousness from God based on faith.
From ‘kindred according to the flesh’ to here (v 3) ‘no confidence in the flesh’.
In fact, Paul says he might have reason for such confidence – in fact on a worldly level he has got the dream CV – he lists it all in vv 5 & 6.
In Romans he wants his fellow Jews to know Christ, here the surpassing value of knowing Christ relativises and devalues all the things he had grown to be proud of. They are losses rather than gains (v 7). It reminds me of that marvellous little parable of Jesus about the man who finds buried treasure, and so sells off all that he possesses in order to buy the field and get the treasure. More than that Paul twists the knife – these things aren’t just a dead loss, he says he regards them as rubbish or refuse.
One commentator writes: ‘refuse (Gk skybala) is a vulgar term, meaning either human excrement or waste foods consigned to the garbage heap. A word like ‘muck’ conveys the sense to a modern reader, though even that does not express distaste in sufficiently strong terms’ (R P Martin New Century Bible Commentary 1976, p 131).
What is there in my identity that I need to flush down the toilet? To see as a load of ‘skybala’? In what ways do I have a sense of entitlement (what Paul calls ‘gains’ in v 7) that makes me feel above other people?
Paul’s gains were not just personal, they came from having a certain ’flesh’; of being from a particular group of people. How far am I prepared to accept the rebuke to what that people I belong to have done. Psalm 106 is a searing list of the faithlessness, idolatry and evil of Israel’s past. It rubs their face in it. A prophet like Amos rebuked the cruelty both of Israel but also the surrounding nations. Gaza: ‘because they carried into exile entire communities to hand them over to Edom’ (Amos 1:6). If we are English can we hear that without cringing? Monica Bolley’s video underlined the evil of slavery and its continuing distortion of relationships that lives on (See ‘My Story’ on Vimeo from London Diocese 4/5 Jan 2021). You may have seen the Tear Fund webinar on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death where Prof Robert Beckford roundly rebuked Prof Tom Wright for what he called intellectual dishonesty and amnesia about the centuries’ long brutality and cruelty of slavery, and the need for the ‘emotional work’ of coming to terms with it.
That’s not saying western Europeans were uniquely evil; it is saying, as the great nineteenth century Roman Catholic historian Lord Acton put it, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely; and western European people need to examine our history in the light of the hugely unbalanced power we have wielded.
Nonetheless having commented on that specific historic legacy of slavery, we all have legacies, accumulated cultural CVs that need examining for ways in which they hold us back from wholeheartedly coming to Christ. Just as marriage is ‘a means of grace’ because it helps us to come to terms with ourselves, so too a multi-cultural society can be a means of grace - to see our culture as others see us.
So, for quiet reflection what in my cultural tradition needs flushing away in order to fully Christ and the power of his resurrection?
To summarise, in these two passages we encounter the sort of paradox that I think both the Christian faith and a multi-ethnic society often confront us with – that simultaneously each of us needs to be both affirming and chastening our cultural identities.
I now want to look at the third passage, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 which is about how from the basis of both affirmation and rebuke, we relate across cultures.
19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
As a preamble it is worth noting that a multi-cultural society presents us with two different though related challenges. On the one hand is a commitment to racial justice, and Philippians 3 in particular challenges us to examine ourselves for evidences of ethnic entitlement and superiority which fuel racism. On the other hand there is the challenge to build multi-cultural Christian communities which evidence the oneness that is a gift of the Spirit and create an atmosphere of mutual respect and valuing.
1 Corinthians, probably written from Ephesus, perhaps the most culturally challenging city in Paul’s ministry, gives us a pointer to how multi-cultural churches emerge.
What does it mean to ‘become all things to all people’ (v 22) as we minister in multi-cultural parishes?
As a basis I want to use insights from the sphere of ‘Cultural Intelligence’ which I discuss in my blog (# 31).
Briefly to be Culturally Intelligent ministers of the gospel we need:
1. Motivation.
We want to share in the blessing of the gospel, we want the joy of saving some (vv 22,23). We want the joy of seeing people of every tribe, and culture and nation gathered round the Lord’s table, after which worshipping in an ethnically homogenous church is as unappetising as eating mashed potatoes for dinner every day. It’s tragic when church leaders don’t have that simple delight in the diversity of God’s people. It’s appalling how often I have heard minority ethnic students at St Mellitus say that white students just didn’t seem that interested in them. That delight in ethnic diversity ought to be part of the DNA of every Christian, let alone leaders.
People from an ethnic minority, I believe, develop an instinctive awareness to know whether or not they are welcomed. If that first element of motivation is missing, then we are wasting our time doing anything else.
2. Knowledge.
When I was Area Dean of Brent I remember a bright young curate telling me that his geography degree was more useful in his ministry than his theological training – an exaggeration, but with a relevant point beneath it. The parish system of pastoral care gives us an enormous syllabus of geographical contexts and cultural formations to get to grips with. If someone whose surname is ‘Mensah’ comes to your church you ought to be able to pick up where they come from. We all like our background to be taken seriously. Therefore:
a) Visit, visit, visit – become part of the furniture in people’s homes.
b) Read, watch, listen. It can be time demanding, but so important. If you didn’t see it, you must catch up on Steve McQueen’s tv series ‘Small Axe’. I like black American music (it was my way in to ‘race’) & reggae, but by the time hip-hop and rap emerged I struggled.
We need to get a handle on the cultural differences around us – how emotionally expressive are people; people’s understanding of the supernatural or the exercise of authority. Or the challenge of understanding honour/shame cultures. I would say as a broad but important rule: ‘People won’t be at home in your church until you are at home in their culture’.
In Acts 17 at Athens Paul quotes Greek writers – Tarsus was second only to Athens as a Greek intellectual centre. He was at home there (though subversively). We need to take the learning steps to be comfortable with the cultures around us.
3. Action.
‘Switch off cruise control’ is a very helpful phrase from David Livermore’s book on Cultural Intelligence. You can’t do things instinctively as you do with your own culture. You need to look and think again and determine what is appropriate when seen through different cultural lenses. The content of Paul’s sermons in Acts varies enormously, depending on his context: in Acts 13 a Jewish history lesson in the synagogue in Pisidia; in Acts 14 he speaks about God in nature in Lystra; in Acts 17 about knowing God to the Athenians. How far are my sermons what to my mind needs saying; and how far have I built in what needs to be heard in this particular culture? Does it reflect your understanding of the different cultures in your congregation.
The content of our baptism or home group materials, how we run our PCC, the qualities we look for in leaders – the whole range of parish life needs to be given a second look from the angle of the sort of cultural differences we noted above.
Summary:
We have in Paul three different modes of understanding ethic identity:
Romans 9 Affirming
Philippians 3 Chastening
1 Corinthians 9 Transcending
As homework you may want to read Acts 25, and discern how Paul operates in all three modes.
(Aaron Kuecker’s book ‘The Holy Spirit and the ‘Other’ in Luke-Acts’ independently uses the same three verbs to describe the social identity the Spirit produces).
I want to refer to a widely discussed recent book ‘The Road to Somewhere’ by David Goodhart, which sees our ‘Post Brexit’ society with the contrasting poles, firstly, of ‘Anywheres’ (probably most of us here): we have moved away from where we grew up, maybe went to residential university, are used to having to make new friends and learned to adapt quickly. We have learned to change codes & cultures and have an experimental attitude to foods etc. But we are also possibly quite individualistic, with shallower relationships.
‘Somewheres’, by contrast, have a strong sense of identification with a place and a group. Loyalty matters. Community matters.
Paul is both: in Romans 9 he is a ‘somewhere’; in 1 Corinthians 9 an ‘anywhere’. We should be both. Lesslie Newbigin said the New Testament uses only two words to describe the church (eg ‘the church in Ephesus’): both universal & in a place. Sadly, that the church ought to be both an ‘anywhere’ and a ‘somewhere’ people failed to register us on Goodhart’s radar.
That leaves unidentified our third passage, and here’s my suggestion:
Does Philippians 3 describe a ‘Nowhere’ person? That is, we have let go of all entitlements, qualifications, any claims ‘to confidence in the flesh’. ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling’. It is that emptiness, that nothingness before God that actually both strips us of pride, and also enables us to relate in an undefended and trusting way in a culturally diverse world.
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Add Ons
The Euros - the Sting in the Tail.
On the pitch and off the pitch the Euros were going so well. A popular manager and a united team seemingly gathering the support and admiration of the whole nation. 2-1 up in the final penalty shoot out. Then three missed penalties, all by black players, and a torrent of racist vituperation and bile on social media, in turn receiving widespread vituperation from the Prime Minister down.
Two reflections. 1) As ever, the rightful condemnation of vulgar, hateful expressions of racism, ought not to distract us from all the subtle assumptions and racist decisions that can live well below the surface of national and church life. 2) Very, very few of those who were racist trolls on Sunday evening would have been in church that Sunday morning. They represent a section of the national community that the national church almost entirely fails to impact. That too should drive us to our knees in prayer.