The 2008 presidential campaigns of President-elect Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary season as well as the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as the first female Republican candidate for Vice President dominated the headlines of the mainstream media. This historic election also proved that discussions on race relations as well as sexual morals are off limits within the American Christendom. The protests after the passing of Proposition Eight in California demonstrated that American Christians are not equipped to discuss racial and gender issues. We, as the people of God located in the Unites States of America, have had a tendency to circumvent social problems such as racism and sexism in order to be accepted by the mainstream culture rather than remain faithful to the Kingdom of God. While many conservative evangelical churches refuse to have conversations on these important issues because they remain afraid of discussing cultural taboos, liberal mainline congregations are incapable of talking about any norms for racial and sexual ethics because of their interpretation of the doctrine of Original Sin.
This paper proposes a comparative study on some of the most current responses that Christian theologians and ethicist have offered pertaining to American Christian approaches to race and sexuality. The works of Kelly Brown Douglas (Black Womanist ethicist), Stanley Grenz (late Evangelical theologian), and Miguel De La Torre (Liberation theologian) will be all be examined. In particular, a comparison and contrast of each theologian’s view of theological anthropology, the Imago Dei, as well as their definition of human sinfulness will be made. By the conclusion of this paper, I hope to construct a theological proposal based on the Old Testament Trinitarian paradigm of Word, Breathe, and Body (assembly and individuals) to empower churches to establish dialogues pertaining to racial differences and human sexuality.
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