What Shall We Do With Jonathan Edwards?

Charlottesville and Robert E. Lee.  My head is still 'spinning,' for racism and related issues (e.g. the alt right, white supremacy, slavery) are so upsetting and so complex.

But surprisingly, as I thought-through this topic, my mind didn't dart to Robert E. Lee, but to Jonathan Edwards, considered by many, to be America's greatest theologian.  Ever.

But like Lee, Jonathan Edwards is tainted, garnering mixed reviews on racism.  For, like Lee, Edwards also advanced slavery.   As the Yale Slavery Study Group documents: 

"...Edwards...himself "owned several slaves: Joseph and Lee, a woman named Venus, purchased in 1731, and, listed in the inventory of his estate in 1758, a 'negro boy' named Titus" [In fact] Jonathan Edwards owned slaves until the day he died..." http://www.yaleslavery.org/WhoYaleHonors/je.html 

But Jonathan Edwards was no dummy.  He anticipated this blog post, and wrote his own defense:

"If [the critics of slave owners] continue to cry out against those who keep Negro slaves," they would show themselves to be hypocrites, because they too benefited from the slave trade..." http://www.yaleslavery.org/WhoYaleHonors/je.html 

Edwards has a point: we all have gained from slavery and resultant racism. In fact, Edward E. Baptist, in his ground-breaking book, The Half Has Never Been Told, contends that the American economy and way of life that we currently know and enjoy, was largely built 'on the backs of slaves.' 

“The idea that the commodification and suffering and forced labor of African Americans is what made the United States powerful and rich is not an idea that people necessarily are happy to hear. Yet it is the truth." (Edward E. Baptist. The Half Has Never Been Told, pp. xxiii-xxiv https://www.amazon.com/Half-Has-Never-Been-Told/dp/0465049664/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503417073&sr=1-1&keywords=the+half+has+never+been+told

So, a gusty, controversial, 'sure to make a lot of people mad' statement.

The real question is not: 'What Shall We Do With Jonathan Edwards (a slave owner); or U.S. Grant (a slave-owner); or Henry Clay (a slave-owner); or Robert E. Lee (a slave-owner)...or George Whitfield (a slave-owner); or Thomas Jefferson (a slave owner)...or Benjamin Franklin (a slave owner) or John Hancock (a slave owner) or George Washington (a slave owner).

The real question is: what to do with us?

The Good News: tearing down physical statues is not always required (though sometimes wise). The Bad News: tearing down ideological statures is always required. To be precise: ideological statues of racism, elitism, classism, and other expressions of pride.  For as Paul reminds us:

"...[Christ] himself is our peace...and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility...His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity...thus making peace..." (Ephesians 2: 14-15, emphasis added).

Thus, if Jesus is a wall-breaker, we must be wall-breakers.

But we must avoid mere tokenism or lip-service.  Rather, we must deep-dive, doing 'soul-surgery.'  A way forward:

1) Recognize:  There Are No 'Good Guys.'  We're All A Mixed Bag.  Have you noticed:  we tend to identify a 'scape-goat' when faced with atrocity or sin.

Of late, it's been, Robert E. Lee.  Sure, Lee was a brutal slave owner, known to be calculating and self-serving toward African-Americans.  In addition, he literally 'led the charge,' militarily, to sustain the slave-culture of the South. No doubt. /https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/

But Lee was also a vocal advocate of reconciliation, even as most Southerners trumpeted bitterness after the Civil War. For this reason, ironically, Lee never wanted a monument erected to himself, or the Southern cause convinced such memorials would keep open the sores of war. Writing to Thomas Rosser, a former Confederate general, who queried Lee about a proposed monument, Lee remarked:

"...As regards the erection of such a monument...my conviction is... the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour."  http://leefamilyarchive.org/papers/letters/transcripts-UVA/v076.html

2)  Extremism, From Anyone, In Any Form, Is Counter-Productive.  The most obvious example of extremism is the alt-right, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, the KKK (Klan), etc. Please hear me:  such movements are not only wrong, they are extreme evil; we must confront, admonish and rebuke them. No question.  Period.

But we can also be extreme, not only rebuking such folk, but hating them, demonstrating absolutely no interest in understanding them.  As Andrew Young clarified on Meet the Press, last Sunday:

"...Most of the issues that we’re dealing with now are related to poverty. But we still want to put everything in a racial context. The problem with the – and the reason I feel uncomfortable condemning the Klan types is – they are almost the poorest of the poor. They are the forgotten Americans. And, um, they have been used and abused and neglected...[And then referring to his involvement with Martin Luther King] Our job was not to put down white people. Our job was to lift everybody up together.  To come – so that we would learn to live together as brothers and sisters rather than perish together as fools..."http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/20/andrew-young-dont-blame-the-klan-or-uneducated-white-people/http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/20/andrew-young-dont-blame-the-klan-or-uneducated-white-people/

3) Take Specific Steps To Eradicate Racism, But Tone Down The Rhetoric.  When I encounter evil and injustice, I become intense and angry. And people pick up on my 'hotness' and get 'hot' themselves. A better route is to begin a conversation, aimed at results, but devoid of 'hot' language.

A model to watch is St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA.  As the home church of not only Robert E. Lee, but Jefferson Davis, and a host of other Confederates, St. Paul's began a "History and Reconciliation Initiative." http://www.stpaulsrva.org/connect/hri/.  in 2015. The purpose: "in light of our Christian faith we will trace and acknowledge the racial history of St Paul's Episcopal Church in order to repair, restore, and seek reconciliation with God each other and the broader community."

And for good reason:  St Paul's has 23 plaques or markers with Confederate references and symbols on its property!!! And we thought Charlottesville had a challenge! Yet St. Paul's is making progress, largely because of how it's rector introduced the need for reconciliation.  As Sojourner's reported:

"In a sermon that lasted less than 11 minutes, Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley...asked...in his faint South Carolina drawl, “[What if] we begin a conversation...about the Confederate symbols here in our worship space?” He listed examples…[But]…The sermon was remarkable in its restraint. It wasn’t a jeremiad against the church that had, up until the 1960s, emblazoned its official stationery with “Cathedral of the Confederacy.” Nor did it mention the words that would ripple through the congregation in the months that followed, words like “racism,” “slavery,” and “reconcile.”  In fact, there weren’t many words at all...his tone, much like his personality, gentle and encouraging...[quoting]...Solomon: “The generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them.”  “Generating. Building up. Giving life,” repeated Adams-Riley. “Strengthening. Healing. Bringing wholeness. That is what God does...[and] we find our greatest fulfillment in doing likewise.” https://sojo.net/magazine/april-2017/robert-e-lee-worshipped-here

Not a bad reminder for us:  Strengthening.  Healing.  Bringing Wholeness.  That Is What God Does.

And so sure:  we need to say the hard word.  The confronting word.  The rebuking word, regarding racism.

But what all racists need -- whether Jonathan Edwards -- or, us -- is a way forward. Flavored not by hate and narrow condemnation -- but our equality as sinners -- as we sense and confess the depths of our iniquity.

But also -- receive the strength, healing, and wholeness of God.