Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd became the catalyst of political and social unrest in 2020, fueling social justice movements in many areas. Central to the unrest is what Time Magazine called “America’s Overdue Racial Awakening,” which highlighted the fallout of George Floyd’s death and the ensuing strife.[1] The Church was not exempt from the unrest and public dialogue on social justice, with several pastors and members looking for leadership on these issues. This national social justice conversation is driving domestic policy decisions with purposed legislation such as H.R. 5 “The Equality Act” and police reform bills such as the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020,” and many Christians are unsure of how to respond.[2] Dr. Baucham addresses a Christian response in Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe from the perspective of a pastor, church planter, former social worker, and the current dean of the School of Divinity at African Christian University. With Critical Theory becoming a common reference in the public discussion, Dr. Baucham outlines how the current issues surrounding social justice are not as simple as they appear. Throughout Fault Lines, the author explains how Critical Theory and its subsets, Critical Race Theory-Intersectionality and Critical Social Justice are grounded in Marxism, the public social justice conversation is perpetuating misinformation, and is incompatible with Christianity as a competing worldview.[3]
You can read the full review at Liberty University’s Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy.
Notes
[1] Edward Felsenthal, ed., “Nation BLM: America’s Overdue Racial Awakening,” Time Magazine, 2020, 38-49.
[2] David Crary, “LGBTQ rights bill ignites debate over religious liberty,” Associated Press, March 8, 2021 March 8, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-baptist-united-states-southern-baptist-convention-7835e3ff55e04c8634ab92541bdc12b3; Joanna Lampe, Comparing Police Reform Bills: the Justice in Policing Act and the JUSTICE Act (Washington: Congressional Research Service, 2020), 1.
[3] Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe (Washington: Salem Books, 2021).
Finding Life in the Word 