:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

“I like a lot of the emerging church stuff, but man, it’s just so… white.”

An Asian friend in seminary said that to me back in the fall of 2004, long before Sojourners ran an article in Spring 2010 about the overwhelming whiteness of the emerging church. At the time my friend made this observation, I had just completed the first draft of Coffeehouse Theology, an introduction to theology that included diverse/global Christian perspectives in its method.

I think his comment was pretty much right on, but not necessarily indicative of where Christianity, emerging or not, need stay. I think he would agree.

White Dudes Realize We’re Missing It

If there’s one good thing that’s come out of the emerging conversations, it’s a great deal of humility that is paired with charitable dialogue with fellow believers. What I saw developing throughout the 00’s in my seminary and online is basically a bunch of white theologians realizing they’d been marginalizing other perspectives, whether or not that has been intentional.

Now, think about this. Our seminaries, at least the conservative-ish ones, are filled with lots of white dudes and also some Koreans. So, the white dudes realized we’d been missing out on some important perspectives, and that is a wonderful and commendable thing. We should not minimize or overlook things.

However, the conversations at that point primarily consisted of white dudes talking about the need to be more diverse. That’s certainly where many of us were back in 2004. I know that’s where I was.

White Dudes Will Fix Things

Unfortunately, when those in the majority realize there’s a problem, they may try to solve it on their own and even dictate the terms of the solution without considering the contributions of the minorities involved.

My former professor John Franke gave a wonderfully humble account of this at an event a few years ago. He entered dialogue with an African American pastor and proposed a number of solutions to our white dude problem. In the process he realized that he’d been dictating the terms of the solution, confessed his error, and worked with this pastor on some great ideas that rose from their conversations.

White Dudes Will Give Up Control

The future of all this emerging, missional, and just plain Christian stuff does not rely on white dudes figuring out ways to be diverse, and I think a lot of white dudes know that. Some are more proactive than others to this end, but if we ask ourselves who’s leading and only come up with a list of white dudes, then we’ll know we’re not there yet.

The trouble with this conversation is that white dudes have been in control for so long, that I’m sure those in the non-white dude camp feel like enough is enough: “Just give up control already white dudes!” And then the white dudes who are trying to make things better feel like they’re doing the best they can and just need more time.

My hope is that we can move beyond white dude theology, and I think we are well on our way in many circles. We can start today be asking who we look to as guides for our theology and practice, and if our guides are only white dudes, then we have some searching to do.