Picturing Theology

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P i c t u r i n g T h e o l o g y

Different Traditions of African American Response (continued)

3. Need not be committed to obliterating culture, only ignoring difference in order that we may all meld into one common pot 4. Perpetually defers to the cultural mores and habits of the dominant culture

III. Marginalism: Inferiority, Shame and Hatred, Denial - “Outside”

A. Definition: tendency to deny, overlook, or even reject one’s own cultural legacy as pathological, insignificant, and even detrimental to one’s own growth and prosperity B. Example: Joseph Washington, E. Franklin Frazier C. Issues 1. Breeds contempt for oneself; self-deprecation is not viewed as a negative in reference to the overall badness of the culture 2. Ignores God’s role in shaping culture 3. Oversimplifies one’s own cultural legacy as either insignificant or immoral A. Definition: tendency to strive for a multi-cultural integration of peoples within society that guarantees the rights and privileges of citizenry, equality, and justice B. Example: Jesse Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, traditional civil rights vision C. Issues 1. Focus on attaining distributive justice in society among all the people groups within it (“equal treatment under the law”, and “cut the societal pie correctly”) 2. Seeks limited goods within the society of equality and fairness under the law, and does not focus (usually) on friendship but equal treatment

IV. Integrationism: Modern-day Multi-culturalism - “Among”