One layer in the complexity of race in the American social fabric lies in the tension between what we can term the color-blind thesis and the anti-color-blind thesis. How do we navigate these waters as a church?
The tension between the “Color-Blind” and the “Anti-Color-Blind” Position
We find the color-blind thesis ingrained in our legal history, such as Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissenting opinion in the Plessy v. Ferguson case (the 1896 decision that upheld “separate but equal”). He stated “our Constitution is color-blind…The law regards man as man, and takes not account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved”. We observe color-blind threads in popular sentiments, too, such as Martin Luther King’s famous longing for “a nation where [his children] will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. For several generations of Americans, the most virtuous path when contemplating race demanded a detachment from judgments based on color. To borrow a Rawlsian term, the majority culture should undertake a kind of “veil of ignorance” and promote equal opportunity without regard to phenotypes.
In recent decades, the anti-color-blind thesis gained ground by arguing that a failure to account for the experiences and exigencies specific to race is concomitant to racism. This position asks for a thoughtful engagement with categories of color. The color-blind position’s inclination towards assimilation fails to appreciate the disproportionate social conditions and outcomes intertwined with race. To see how far-reaching this response extends we need only look at something like Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist that holds a high position on the New York Times best seller list. Kendi inveighs against any “race neutral” approach. We see this attitude applied in real-world settings, too. For example, even as I write this article, my news feed features a story of a student petition at NYU for racially segregated dorms.
So, the color-blind thesis sees the alternative as painfully fractured and the anti-color-blind thesis sees the alternative as negligently homogenous. While there are no easy answers in such an impasse, I hope we gain even a modest encouragement from two unrelated patristic texts.
A “New Race” not based on genetics
In the mid 2nd century, an unknown writer authored an Epistle to Diognetus. Not only did the great J.B. Lightfoot consider this short letter “the noblest of early Christian writings”, but it has witnessed somewhat of a resurgence because of its readability and relevance. The recipient appears to have been an honest inquirer about Christian faith and the author sets out to provide the basics of the faith in a beneficial manner. The opening section frames the questions from his interlocutor:
“What God do [Christians] believe in and how do they worship him, so that they all disregard the world and despise death, neither recognizing those who are considered to be gods by the Greeks nor observing the superstition of the Jew; what is the nature of the heartfelt love they have for one another; and why has this new race of men or way of life come into the world we live in now and not before”? (Diognetus, 1, italics mine)
We see that the author uses the term “race” differently than we do. He argues that the “new race” of Christians is not about biogenetics, but about laying aside previously held gods and customs. Yes, this moves towards color-blindness, but we ought to note that it escapes assimilation to a pre-existent or dominant majority. In a manner similar to Galatians 3.28 or 1 Corinthians 10.32, the epistle shows awareness of cultural and ethnic markers but knows that they take a peripheral position in this new people group distinguished by sincere love.
The “Third Race” that betrays our distinctive community
Turning to a much different patristic text, one chapter in Tertullian’s Against the Nations (I.8) engages debate on Christians as a “third race” (tertium gentium). Like Diognetus, Tertullian’s Mediterranean readers understood the fundamental Gentile-Jew distinction. These were the first two races. Evidently, in Tertullian’s Carthaginian context Christians as a “third race” functioned as a term of derision. His opponents mocked Christians for their distinct worship and lifestyle and used “third race” with the aim of marginalizing and potentially dehumanizing the community. Interestingly, from what we can tell, Christians as a “third race” was originally a self-designation that acknowledged Christian distinctives (see Aristides’ Apology or the fragmentary Preaching of Peter). In reflecting upon this exchange, perhaps Christians can appreciate the idea behind the “third race” moniker and embrace our distinctive make-up. Jesus calls us to be different.
Summary
Coming again to the complexity of race in contemporary America, the minor patristic lines of Christians as a “new race” or a “third race” may seem to offer little. I only propose that we cheerfully recapture this notion that people of all backgrounds together in Christ become a new genus. The Christian “race” aligns well with contemporary understandings that “race” extends well beyond genetics and physical appearances. At the same time, this new race does not pretend ethnic and cultural distinctives disappear, it only calls its adherents to a higher focus. Can it prove helpful in doing what we usually do with intractable binaries and transcend the debate, in this instance the color-blind versus the anti-color-blind poles?
One obvious weakness in this discussion lies in its lack of immediate application to those outside the church. Both the “new race” and the “third race” concepts presume belief in the Lord Jesus. We hope that a world fractured by race (and perplexed about how to talk about race) may look upon the covenant community and see a distinct genus made up of people of different colors and backgrounds who have all abandoned certain boundary markers to embrace Christ.
This resource is part of the series More than Imago Dei: Theological Explorations on Race. Click here to explore more resources from this series.
Austin Shaw is the Senior Pastor of Providence Church in Avon, OH. He holds a PhD in Patristics from the University of Oxford. Austin is a member of the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
