Un-Silencing the Voices: Jesus and the Beautiful Horror of Scripture (Andrew Boakye) / Mongolia report

Good morning! We’re both home in England.

Vicki has returned from her pilgrimage—a group of 88, organized by Robert Carrillo—on El Camino de Santiago Compostela (Spain). More on this in another newsletter.

And I’m just back from Asia, brimming with news I’d like to share now, mainly about about my visit to Mongolia.

The presentation at Mongolia International University went swimmingly, even though after flying through the night (Manchester—

Istanbul—Ulaanbaatar) I had to go directly from the airport to the university (without sleep)—because of snow-induced thick traffic.

All the same, I had enough of my wits about me to speak intelligibly on the important topic of Science & Faith. 65 students and professors attended the talk.

That evening the local church had me speak on the topic of the early days of the London Church of Christ, 1982-1989. On Sunday I was asked to discuss the birth of HOPEww—along with a message on hope, from the book of Habakkuk. In addition, we enjoyed several fellowship times in small groups, where I addressed various topics.

The main church leaders and I spent 36 hours in a 4×4 as we headed south to the Gobi Desert and discussed scripture, church history, practical ministry, and science.

The preacher, Park Jungho, is trained in physics, although working full-time as a professor of computer science. His wife, Joy, is a professor of accounting. Both Koreans, they are fluent in Mongolian—no mean feat—and have clearly given their hearts to the church, taking a stand in a land where Buddhism and shamanism are strong.

Today I’ve also included a thoughtful article from friend and colleague in the UK teaching ministry Dr. Andrew Boakye. Andy is Professor of New Testament at Manchester University—about 90 minutes from our home in Lancashire. He’s also an astute observer of culture and current events.

I hope Andy’s scholarship, eloquence, humanity, and refreshing honesty will move you, just as they have touched me.
— D.J.

Un-Silencing the Voices: Jesus and the Beautiful Horror of Scripture III

Recently, a Christian nationalist pastor named Brian Sauvé was asked if black Christians would be welcomed into his church, to which he responded, “Black Christians yes! Black culture no”! He continued to suggest that “black culture” (a furiously problematic phrase in itself) was “evil, murderous, violent and bestial”.

He attempted to use statistics about violent crime, depravity in certain inner cities, the number of single parent families in black communities etc. peppered with typically sanctimonious rhetoric to legitimate his obtuse ideas. The flaws in his reasoning were foregrounded in the wave of criticism he received—I would add to this backlash by saying that he chose to freeze a

particular moment of the history of black Americans and then make general comments.

One could easily freeze a moment in history - like the Third Reich, the Transatlantic slave trade, Apartheid South Africa, and make all sorts of generalisations about “white culture” (equally problematic)! These kinds of straw man arguments appear so wide of the mark, it is difficult to believe that their proponents do not have agendas other than sincere socio-political critique.

I raise this particular case to shed a spotlight on how “Christian” rhetoric is routinely weaponized.

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