Posted on 01/22/2024 6:51:14 AM PST by truthxchange
By Jeffery J Ventrella
While Critical Theory (aka Cultural Marxism) has been present in America for decades, particularly in academia, 2023 saw this ideology again pop on the public’s radar. Two events triggered this awareness. First, a divided Supreme Court rightly rejected discriminatory admission plans utilized at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.[1] These plans, predicated on Critical Theory, disadvantaged better qualified Asian applicants. The colloquy between Justice Thomas in the majority and Justice Jackson dissenting showcases the battle between rival worldviews, the former arguing the constitutional worldview (largely derived from Christian underpinnings) and the latter promoting barely disguised Critical Theory precepts.
Second and more popularly, the shameful Congressional testimony of Harvard’s (now former) President Claudine Gay regarding campus Antisemitism, followed by revelations of her blatant academic fraud and plagiarism, called into question the validity of so-called affirmative action schemes.[2]
Sadly, a number of well-intended evangelicals, seeing this cultural clash with Critical Theory, particularly after the George Floyd killing, have rather naively sought a “middle” position: Contending that Critical Theory offers insight, particularly regarding racial matters, these folks have asserted in effect that one can ingest Critical Theory if one is careful to simply “eat the meat and spit out the bones.”[3] The problem with this compromised approach is that it fails to understand that Critical Theory is not meat, but rather, is wholly poisonous, not salubrious, and cannot be consumed to any degree without spawning deleterious effects. The TxC hermeneutic brings clarity to this point. Let’s “get to the gist.”
TxC focuses on the truth being exchanged for the lie (Rm. 1:25). Yet this entire point appears in a context, a context that valorizes and presupposes the Christian narrative of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. This Christian worldview and cosmology define “real reality.” That worldview clashes with Critical Theory at every level; Critical Theory is systemically incompatible with Christianity. There is no healthy “meat” to consume, only poison. How so? Let’s compare Christianity and Critical Theory in some crucial areas: Reality, Norms, and Authority.
As to Reality:
As to Norms and Authority:
Given these worldviews’ incompatible tenets, it is unsurprising that these foundational matters spawn significant implications for living and ordering real life. This is particularly true concerning:
Stay tuned: We will explore and “get to the gist” regarding these additional implications tomorrow in Part 2.
N.B. This sort of cultural apologetics and analysis reflect the Irenaeus Institute’s application of the TxC hermeneutic. And, it provides a taste of the type of training the TxC Fellowship will be offering to the next generation – help us engage the culture with the Truth.
For further study:
[1] Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College,https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf
[2] Note: it’s true that cynical Critical Race Theory academics like Derek Bell also reject affirmation action for wholly different reasons, yet popularizers of Critical Theory like Boston University’s Henry Rogers aka Ibram X. Kendi, advocate continued state-sanctioned racially-based discrimination, which too includes a form of affirmation action. Rogers’ plan is not unlike Marcuse’s device known as “repressive tolerance,” advocating what is now known popularly as “cancel culture” and otherwise silencing dissent. https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-1969.pdf. This is utterly irrational: Purporting to end “oppression” by continuing to oppress others.
[3] See generally, periodic remarks by NY Times columnist David French – for example, https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/frenchpress/on-the-use-and-abuse-of-critical/,
Matt Chandler, see e.g., https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-matt-chandler-explains-why-the-term-white-privilege-can-be-stunningly-offensive.html, and even the supposedly conservative evangelical network known as Acts 29 listed CRT resources on its website for a season. Cf., Denny Burk, Can we eat the meat and spit out the bones of CRT? [capitalization in original] https://www.dennyburk.com/can-we-eat-the-meat-and-spit-out-the-bones-with-crt/
[4] See the seminal essay by Judith Butler, Performative Acts and Gender Constitution (1988)
[5] This is obviously absurd: the world records for the mile run are vastly different for men and women, 3:43.13 and 4:07.64 respectively – is this distinction really due to oppression and power differentials at work?
[6] Compare: consuming alcohol in moderation is fine, but not while driving a vehicle; however, there is no such thing as doing genocide “in moderation.” The latter is morally reprehensible in all places, for all persons, at all times.
[7] This follows the heritage of Hegel and Marx.
Global Elitists tell us to “Eat the worms and spit out the germs”.
.
O’Brien to Winston:
“You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal.”
― George Orwell, 1984
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