Progress in racial reconciliation among evangelical Christians, especially at the attitudinal level, has been documented and acknowledged. Yet there is the recognition that injustice along racial lines has persisted to a significant degree. It has been suggested by Emerson and Smith in their book Divided by Faith that such persistence is related, at least in part, to certain theological roots of Evangelical belief. This essay explores those roots and shows that a fully Trinitarian theological anthropology addresses and calls them into question and recommends a more faithfully Christian and so Evangelical foundation. More particularly the love for the neighbor embodied in the Person and Work of Christ and rooted in the Trinitarian life revisions both the nature of the problems of racism and racialization and also shows the way forward towards true reconciliation through participation in the accomplished renewal of humanity as neighbors one to another in Jesus Christ.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary