Thread by @DennyBurk

RNS has an opinion piece defending James Cone against charges of heresy and claiming that those who make such charges are motivated by white supremacy.

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religionnews.com/2020/01/09/whi…

And yet, the author admits this about James Cone:

“He raised questions about some tenets of faith that white evangelicals cherish, particularly the inerrancy of Scripture and the concept that Jesus died the death we deserved because of sin.”

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In other words, he admits that James Cone held these unorthodox views, but he doesn’t think these aberrations were all that important. After all according to the author, inerrancy and Jesus’ vicarious death for sinners are doctrines that “white evangelicals cherish.”

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The author could not be more mistaken. That the Bible is God’s word, that God NEVER errs when he speaks, and that Jesus died in place of sinners—this is not white theology. This is the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

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To walk away from these precious truths is to walk away from Jesus. Anyone who teaches such things—no matter what color or gender that person may be—is denying core doctrines of the Christian faith.

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We don’t measure theological convictions by the color of their proponents’ skin. We measure all truth claims by God’s revelation in scripture. And by that standard, Cone’s teaching falls woefully short.

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The author also faults Danny Akin’s beliefs on the one hand while valorizing Cone’s beliefs on the other. The author could not be more wrong. Dr. Akin is godly man and a faithful proponent of the faith once for delivered to the saints. To suggest otherwise is absurd.

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Beware of any critic who measures theological claims by the color the proponent’s skin. This is not a Christian approach to discerning the truth, but something else altogether.

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