ipl-logo

Review Of John Piper's Bloodlines: Race, Cross, And The Christian

1606 Words7 Pages

In an age of racial strife and confusion, it is pivotal to have a clear understanding of race and how it relates to Christians. And no one does this better than John Piper’s book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian. Piper grew up in Greenville, South Carolina where the issues of race have deeply affected him to this day. He grew up a racist, the people around him were racist, for the most part, but his mother was the sole reason that he decided to change his attitude towards racism. Also, Piper lived in Germany for three years where he saw the lasting impact the Nazis had and how they wanted to build the “master race.” He taught at Bethel College but took a pastoral job at Bethlehem Baptist Church. He lives in the Phillips neighborhood which is the most diverse part of Minneapolis. He also adopted a young African American girl with his wife. With all this said, it is easy to see how John Piper is the best man to write a book on race and Christianity. …show more content…

He explains that change can seem overwhelming and even threatening at times, which is why he wants Christians to have deep roots and dive in deeper into the grace of the gospel. Piper’s thesis is to show that the bloodlines of race do not matter when compared to the deep bloodline of Christ (227). He points out a pivotal problem that humans are alienated from God, and in doing so, are alienated from each other (227). A key way of looking at this is remembering that when people fail to love God, they fail to love others which causes disharmony, pride, and

Show More
Related

  • Allen Dwight Callahan's The Talking Book: African Americans And The Bible

    996 Words  | 4 Pages

    Allen Dwight Callahan’s The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible connects biblical stories and images to the politics, music and, religion, the book shows how important the Bible is to black culture. African Americans first came to know the Bible because of slavery and at that time the religious groups would read it to them instead of teaching them by letting them encounter it for themselves. Later the Bibles stories became the source of spirituals and songs, and after the Civil War motivation for learning to read. Allen Callahan traces the Bible culture that developed during and following enslavement. He identifies the most important biblical images for African Americans, Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel and discusses their recurrence and the relationship they have with African Americans and African American culture.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Reb And Henry

    168 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Reb and Pastor Henry both were strongly committed to their religious doctrines and spent a great deal of their lives contributing to the well beings of others. Their stories began fairly similar, young men that strived for greatness, but came in contact with abounding obstacles in life . Pastor Henry grew up in an unstable home environment. The importance of school and God wasn’t reinforced constantly, but the use of drugs instantaneously became a way of life. During his adolescence, he developed a strong love for God and took him as his savior at the age of twelve, but then took a path in his teenage years that led him to drugs and violence.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Staples And Just Walk On By Frederick Douglass

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    Every individual is born with a specific culture and color. Respecting each and every person is society’s duty. Society fails in doing so by treating each individual based on their color. Society has two ways to see a person and that is black and white. Whites are given the higher position and well treatment whereas blacks are treated in an opposite way than whites.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Blood Done Sign My Name

    975 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the mid-1900s, white and black communities across the southern states had disputes based on racial segregation within their society. The phrase “separate but equal” was still commonly practiced in some southern communities, in which African Americans still faced mistreatments and harsh discriminations. Timothy B. Tyson, a professor of Afro-American Studies, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story is a memoir of his recognition of his early childhood experiences and other witness’s reports of the racial discrimination, segregation, and injustice death of an African American in Oxford, North Carolina.   In the memoir, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story, Timothy Tyson narrates about the racial discrimination he experienced in Oxford, North

    Read More

  • The Cross And The Lynching Tree Chapter Summary

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    LeAnn Snow Flesher, an Old Testament professor at American Baptist Seminary of the West lauds his theology as something open and honest protest to their white male perspective, that emphasize the cross of redemption without naming the tragedy of violence on lynching trees. (4) Critics say he developed a divisive and racist theology out of the bitterness of growing up in segregation in 1960’s. James Ellis, III, the senior pastor of a nondenominational congregation in Washington D.C. says “For Christians, white cannot be synonymous with evil nor black with good, or vice versa. That sort of rhetoric has no place in the kingdom of God.” He asserts the racial peace comes not from condemnation of whites, but from the reconciliation with God.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes Salvation

    831 Words  | 4 Pages

    Writing about controversial subjects can often be difficult; however Hughes executed his story, Salvation, in an intriguing manner that is suitable to all audiences and religions. In this story, the writer retells an experience from his childhood describing his journey to Jesus Christ. Discussing the complications, the main character, Hughes, faced while trying to come to Jesus is what makes the story interesting to read. On many occasions, you will read a story or watch a movie that shows the main character coming to Jesus and having an immediate and obvious realization of their Savior. For this reason, I found this story to be unique and relatable in the way that it shows a journey that countless Christians face, but you are not often granted the opportunity to read about this type of experience.

    Read More

  • Sex And The Scared After Brown By Jane Dailey Analysis

    1796 Words  | 8 Pages

    Dailey stages the allegation of miscegenation being the root religious civil rights issues with the theology of Segregation, the effects of the Brown decision, and the Ministers march. As a whole, Dailey emphasizes the importance of the testimonies that segregation was “the commandment and law of God”. Also, that most historians tend to “pass” over this topic, condemning “the most lasting triumph of the civil rights movement: its successful appropriation of Christian Dogma” (Dailey 122). “…why

    Read More

  • Dust Tracks On A Road Analysis

    484 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was hard on my family and surroundings, and they in turn were hard on me” (Huston 25). Therefore, when her longing for a journey to the end of the world makes her daring to ask her father for a horse not’ a doll for her Christmas gift, she receives a scornful comment from her father: “A saddle horse!” Papa’ exploded. “It’s a sin and a shame! Lemme tell you something right now, my young lady; you ain’t white.”

    Read More

  • More Than A Carpenter Summary

    894 Words  | 4 Pages

    McDowell begins the book with an anecdote of his life; a familiar story of the sceptical university Agnostic, ready to fire back a retort at the slightest mention of God, Christianity, and anything (or anyone) within. He recounted the all too common feeling of a meaningless life, the seemingly innate itch of human existence, and how it brought him to various places in his life—until he stumbled upon a particular group of people and was changed forever. This introduction, though short, is crucial to understand, for it sets the stage for the remainder of the book. It tells not only the story of a former non-believer, but the story of everyone—it presents us the life of Jesus Christ, not as a gentle sermon or a feel-good retelling, but as an assertive, rational reply to the accusation: ‘Christianity is a myth, and so is your God.’

    Read More

  • Overcoming Addiction In Sonny's Blues

    785 Words  | 4 Pages

    Addiction is a condition in which a person is compelled to continue an act even if it interferes with ordinary life responsibilities. Life with addiction can become overwhelming and even stressful because there is such a need for a specific item. Addictions cause harm, abuse, fatality, behavioral problems such as, aggressiveness, loss of self-control and paranoia. In “Sonny’s Blues” we see a different type of addiction than what we see in “A River Runs Through It.” In “Sonny’s Blues” Sonny was addicted to heroine, a drug that triggers a release of dopamine into the brain.

    Read More

  • Ruth Character Analysis

    721 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Ruth tells him that their all-powerful God has no skin color this shows him that he is not any different from everyone else. Affectionate “I loved that man. I never missed home or my family after I got married. My soul was full” (McBride

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Essay 'Letter From A Region In My Mind' By James Baldwin

    642 Words  | 3 Pages

    Righteous Religion James Baldwin, a writer from Harlem, New York, is particularly studied because of how he addresses race in the United States. Though he saw himself as a “witness to the truth,” Baldwin becomes a leader in black freedom particularly in his collection of essays, The Fire Next Time (The Chicago Tribune). In the essays explored in class, “My Dungeon Shook” and “ Letter from a Region in My Mind,” religion is a reoccurring theme that played an integral part in Baldwin’s life. Although the streets would usually be seen as a more dangerous and deteriorating lifestyle than the church; chapters from The Fire Next Time demonstrate that the institution of the black church created an equally negative and lasting impression that mirrored the impact of street life. Though “My Dungeon Shook” focuses less on religion and more on identity, the first paragraph introduces religion with a negative implication attached.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Christianity In The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin

    970 Words  | 4 Pages

    For centuries, Christianity has been used by white supremacists as a tool of oppression against people of color. More recently, Christianity has been used to justify the subjugation of black people through their enslavement and later segregation. Despite this, the black community has often been attracted to Christianity, “the religion of their oppressors,” for numerous reasons, including the hope for liberation (Brown Douglas xii). Black people raised in the Christian tradition have also rejected the religion in recognition of its unjust qualities. The challenge facing black Christians and those who deny white supremacy is whether to have faith in the liberating and positive aspects of Christianity, or to doubt the religious institution in light of its history of oppression.

    Read More

  • Grace In Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1025 Words  | 5 Pages

    In her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor tackles the issue of grace, showing that no matter the person, everyone can attain and earn grace. The grandmother and the Misfit, though they appear to be quite different people, are both the same at the core: They are sinners in need of Christ. The Misfit and the grandmother are both capable of change and accepting God, but only the grandmother reaches this revelation before her death. Grace is one of the most important ideas in the Bible and Christianity. Grace is “the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God,” (Holcomb).

    Read More

  • The Reality Of Religion In Richard Wright's 'Blackboy'

    1183 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Reality of Religion Religion is a thing that brings people together, but in some cases, it’s the very force that tears people apart. When people are first introduced to it, it can either be a blessing or burden. In the narrative Blackboy, by Richard Wright, Richard describes his life growing up in the South during Jim Crow laws. He faces a great deal of oppression during his lifetime, but some of the most difficult conflicts he faces are with religion and his own family. Since a young age, Richard’s family was very religious, and they wanted Richard to follow in this path as well.

    Read More

More about Review Of John Piper's Bloodlines: Race, Cross, And The Christian

Open Document