“Wicked Caste": B. B. Warfield, Biblical Authority, and Jim Crow
Scholars and churchpeople alike remember B. B. Warfield mostly for the intellectual content of his theology: biblical inerrantism, evidential apologetics, system-building, theistic evolutionism, cessationism. In this article we see him engage in a matter of practical, social theology: race relations...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Soc.
2007
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| In: |
The journal of Presbyterian history
Year: 2007, Volume: 85, Issue: 1, Pages: 28-47 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Scholars and churchpeople alike remember B. B. Warfield mostly for the intellectual content of his theology: biblical inerrantism, evidential apologetics, system-building, theistic evolutionism, cessationism. In this article we see him engage in a matter of practical, social theology: race relations in the post-Reconstruction era. The scion of slaveholding families, Warfield brought to the question of segregation in the 1880s both a firsthand familiarity with the complexity of the problem and a paternalistic sense of duty to provide for its solution. But while leading Southern churchmen of similar theology and from similar class backgrounds favored Jim Crow in law in and in the churches, Warfield spoke out forcefully against “the spirit of caste" that ignored “the fundamental law of the Church of the Living God": that there can be no racial or class distinction in the church (James 2: 1-13). The article situates Warfield in a family of antislavery slaveholders and explores his call for a truly colorblind church in which members seek to redress their collective sin of racism and oppression. In his case, conservative views on biblical authority provided a basis for trenchant social cirtique. Warfield stood against segregation even when it cost him allies in the theological battles of his day. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of Presbyterian history
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