‘I had a suspicion...that the dethroning of Biblical authority was a necessary prelude to the development of modern racism’. Though Colin Kidd’s authoritative The Forging of Races qualifies this, it only does so by showing role of perverse polygenist origins readings of Bible.
Overwhelmingly his 2006 book shows that racialism is of post-Christian ‘scientific’ and naturalistic origin. By contrast the stress in eg Augustine that all humans are of one descent and kinship and therefore that we are all brothers and sisters is overwhelming.
The deviations from this have been mainly Protestant and mainly to do with a ‘liberal’ desire to reach an accommodation with modern ‘science’. Even amongst strict Biblicists.
This conclusion is just slightly obfuscated by Kidd’s reasonable professional desire as a historian of modernity not to himself give a verdict about correct Biblical interpretation. Still I don’t think that is in much doubt on this issue, nor a long-standing Catholic consensus.
His book is THE book to read on the topic of race and religion. (Though he should have cited Jay Carter.)
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