“The Benedict Option fails to ask how black believers have survived racial, economic, and social marginalization with their faith intact.” Jemar Tisby offers an important perspective to Rod Dreher’s new book, a book he has mulled over for at least ten years. When considering options for the persecuted church in America, it seems natural to look to those portions of the church that have lived through persecution, but as Tisby writes, this is a continuing blind spot for many white people.
The reality for many white believers is that Christians of color may provide inspiring stories of resistance and are certainly nice to have on display in the congregation, but they are not a true source of wisdom for the white church. To some white Christians, the faith traditions of racial minorities may offer great aesthetics like preaching or musical style, but they don’t have the legitimacy to lead the way into the future. The constant refusal to learn from the black church can only be termed ecclesiastical arrogance.
https://thewitnessbcc.com/benedict-option-leaves-out-black-church/
Dreher did start a conversation about the black church four years ago, asking why it hadn’t influenced communities more. That doesn’t answer Tisby’s critique, but it does offer a bit of context.
I’m not sure the two types of persecution are similar enough for analogies to work. The persecution of black Christians (and black non-Christian) was/is a matter of racial characteristic. One cannot defect from being black. If anti-Christian persecution is coming, it will be one that tries to encourage defection.
Yes, there are more options for defecting a belief system than a racial identity, but that doesn’t begin to summarize the parallels here. The motive behind the effort to marginalize a group is not as important as the marginalization itself. Here’s an interview from 2013 talking about what Christians of all types can learn from the African-American church in America.