Book Review: Kingdom Race Theology by Tony Evans

Much ink has been spilled about the issues of social justice, BLM, white privilege, systemic racism, etc. From a Christian perspective, not everyone agrees. Even Christians who are like-minded in the fundamentals don’t agree on how to address these modern-day issues.

The author calls for what he calls Kingdom Race Theology and says that means that the earth should possess a “visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life” (pg. 12).

This book will give you a view of these issues that falls somewhere between wokeism and non-wokeism.

Some of the strengths (and encouraging conclusions) that come from this book are as follows:

• The author’s call for unity in the church for the sake of witness. If the church wants to maintain it’s witness, we must find areas of agreement, as Jesus prayed in John 17.

• The author is rightly concerned about victimization and the reduction of personal responsibility. He sees it for what it is: an affront on the Gospel and a minimizing of sin.

• The author’s commitment to allow the Bible to anchor our arguments, concerns, and applications. No other book possesses that sufficiency and hope. He says the problems are biblical and theological and we must start there. People run to sociology before the Scriptures and Christians must refuse that temptation.

• The author’s correction that racism is not the first sin or defining sin of humanity. Many of the well-known authors on these subjects claim that racism is the worst of sins. This author counters that non-Christian idea.

• The author’s discussion of the imago dei. No one can limit their goals to winning the souls of people and neglect to not value them as people (Gen 1:27).

• The author’s applications. One weakness in many of the Christian critiques of these subjects is the lack of “now what’s.” This author gives 14 applications for black people and 14 for white people. And then, he gives suggestions to the church and pastors.

Some remaining questions I have are as follows:

• His view of systemic racism. These words are not as clearly defined in the book, and, thus, I am not sure if I can agree with his conclusion that the word “systemic” is the best way to describe our society. The author did clarify that systemic racism doesn’t mean all whites are racist, but I am still pondering the extent in which racism does exist pervasively in our culture.

• His idea of corporate repentance. He wasn’t as helpful in his suggestions of whether thinks like repenting of the sins of our forefathers or paying reparations are appropriate or not – from a biblical perspective. He does the example of the Year of Jubilee as a pattern of how we should deal with issues of justice and that we cannot expect God to be just until we repent, but that is as close as we get.

A helpful key quote – “Unless social action is based on spiritual discipleship, it will lack the power for long-term transformation. This is because there is a spiritual reality behind every physical and relational problem. By addressing the underlying theological or spiritual issues, along with the physical, we can achieve long-term solutions because we have addressed the entire problem, not just its physical manifestation. Secular society does not understand the spiritual reality that causes physical, racial, social, political, and economic problems. Therefore, secular society is limited in its ability to impact and transform society” (86-87).