Intersectionality and New Wine

I started this blog post months ago (back in October!) but never published it. Then, this week, I was saddened to hear of the death of Rachel Held Evans, a writer who inspired me with her love of Jesus and the way she was unafraid to engage with difficult topics. So to honour her legacy, I am publishing something that, for whatever reason, I was afraid to publish.

As an evangelical Christian and a sociology graduate student, I often find myself in spaces that challenge my ideas. Sometimes what I hear in church and what I hear in the academy seem pretty opposed, and yet I have found a place both in the pews and in the university.

I am writing this, I think, to unite, in some small way, these two identities of mine. And I am bit afraid that in writing this, neither evangelical Christians nor sociologists will agree with me. But I think that's OK. This is how I am making sense of the in-between space I occupy.

The other night, I got to hear civil-rights activist Angela Davis speak at Dalhousie. She is a controversial figure, having been involved in the Communist Party for many years and now being an activist for prison abolition. Her views might be seen as extreme by some, but it cannot be denied that she is brilliant. Much of her talk at the university was about intersectionality. Intersectionality is a term that originated from feminism-- it is this idea that feminists can't just fight for women's rights, because as it turns out, women are all different-- we each have an intersection of identities. As a white, Christian woman, women's rights look a lot different than women's rights for a black, Muslim woman, for example. So you eventually come to realize that to have equality, you can't only fight for women's equality, because even women's equality is unequal. You also have to fight for equality for black people, for immigrants, for prisoners, etc.... Davis talked about some difficult subjects. She talked about how in this current moment, our approach of just picking and punishing those who sexually assault women won't ultimately solve the problem of sexual assault.We want to believe that it's as easy to solve the problems as this: Maybe, if we put all the bad men away, then we will have a safe world. But this doesn't get to the root of the problem. We need to look broadly at the structures in our society that allow violence to happen.

I honestly was a bit frustrated at the end of Angela Davis' talk. Because I wanted her to lay it out-- so what ARE we fighting for? I could hear bits and pieces of this vision for a better world in her talk, but it was more about the struggle than what we're supposed to be struggling for. A world in which all of us truly feel like we belong/ An end to all oppression?

Anyway, that is why I am happy I am a Christian. I think Jesus' vision for the world is a beautiful one. Before the Angela Davis talk on Tuesday, I went to a Bible study at lunchtime with some other grad students. We studied Luke 4. When Jesus began his ministry, he read this:  
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, 
 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Then he said: “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Then he told a story and everyone was about to kill him, because in the story he told, he indicated that maybe he wouldn't exclusively help them.  People were listening to Jesus and they had all of their specific hopes for what he was going to do. Perhaps when he said that captives would be released, they thought Jesus was talking about releasing them from Roman rule. Who knows. I really think that the people listening had a specific idea of what Jesus' purpose on earth was. But he did not fit that specific idea. 

And I think as Christians, we can also have those specific ideas. We can think that God's Kingdom is just for spiritual life-- just to save our souls. We can think that God's Kingdom is just for the here-and-now, for bringing justice to earthly nations. But I think that Angela Davis and Jesus agree in one area-- a better world will not come within the same structures as our current world. God's Kingdom, which I do believe will bring true justice and peace, will set the oppressed free. But God's Kingdom isn't setting the oppressed free just by oppressing others. God's Kingdom is all about laying down power and privilege (see Philippians 2 for example!). 

Let's hear one more thing Jesus says:

 “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old^. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’ " (Luke 5:36-38).

God's Kingdom is bringing change. Jesus is bringing an end to all oppression in the world. But Jesus is not bringing it in the way we think he is- nobody puts new wine into old wineskins! I really do believe that a world ruled by Jesus is a world where all forms of oppression and injustice cease. 

OK now I am just gonna quote Chance the Rapper:
"I'm just gon' keep rappin' And y'all just keep clappin' and keep actin' 

Like Flint got clean water and y'all don't got teen daughters 

and black friends and gay cousins, y'all just gon' say nothin' 

Know that the day comin' 

Knees bowed, tongues confessin' 

The last ones gettin' first dibs on blessings"