© Eric C. Redmond, 2006 -2009
1. Can a Christian celebrate
Kwanzaa without compromising any biblical principles?
I think African-American Christians must
recognize that Kwanzaa is not a simple appreciation or reaffirmation of
one’s ancestry. There is a development of self-worth based on one’s ancestry
inherent in the system. While it is good to recognize the majesty of the
image of God in all people, Kwanzaa overlooks the depravity within a culture
or cultures.
This is understandable in that
African-Americans, as a collective body, perceive themselves as oppressed,
displaced or negatively characterized by Anglo-American culture. In doing
so, African-Americans have worked hard to teach their children and
grandchildren that African-Americans are not constitutively less
intelligent, moral or attractive than people of Anglo-American decent. But
countering the affects of negative stereotyping and brainwashing by means of
self-appreciation is different from what is practiced in Kwanzaa.
African-American Christians must recognize the majesty of the image of God
in man, the depravity of all cultures, and the worth of any person in Christ
alone.
2. Are the values celebrated in
Kwanzaa consistent with Scripture?
On first look, it would appear that the
Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles) has three items that would correspond
to New Testament teachings: Umoja (Unity), Ujima (Collective Work and
Responsibility), and Imani (Faith). Yet, upon closer analysis, we find that
the terms within Kwanzaa differ from the terms of the New Testament, even as
much as the Catholic concepts of justification and grace (i.e., the
Sacraments) differ from the Pauline concept of forensic justification. For
example, Unity, in Kwanzaa, centers around the family, irrespective
of the spiritual status of the family members. The unity is for the sake of
the “community” – the African-American community alone. This is not the
mysterious unity of being members of one another provided by the Holy Spirit
across ethnic lines, nor is this the practical working unity of believers
together for the exaltation of Christ through the Gospel to all people.
Similarly, Kwanzaa’s Faith is based only in past triumphs of people
of African decent. It is not a faith with God as the object, nor as the
Providential One who accomplishes the salvation of a people in spite of
themselves and their opposition. One must un-package each term within a
practice to see if it is “Christian.”
3. Can celebrating the heritage of
one race of people help to build up the body of Christ, or does it cause
division more than it helps?
I think the over-celebration of a heritage
is detrimental to the propagation of the Gospel within a culture. For
example, I serve in a predominantly African-American congregation. If I
celebrate African-American History Month in our songs selection in February,
my non-African-American members can celebrate with us. But if I call for
African dress as part of the worship services, or select only Negro
Spirituals for the music the rest of the year, then a portion of my
congregation is not actively participating in our celebrations because one
race is given preference over another.
If we then were to say that this is only a
problem in mixed-ethnicity congregations, we come to the same problem within
the larger Body of Christ. That is, we force separations based on
ethnic-practices, or at least we ask people of other ethnic backgrounds to
worship with some discomfort, or to over-identify with another ethnic group.
Either way, this makes ethnicity have priority over the Gospel. To see this,
one may need to think in terms of Indian and Pakistani
rather than in terms of Anglo-American and African-American.
But we also must be careful to recognize
that in any geographical region in any time period, the majority culture is
“celebrated” daily, intuitively, subtlety, and naturally by minority
cultures. Evidence of this is the drive of minority cultures to be
“Harvard-educated,” or members of a country club, which are both germane to
the Anglo-American culture, or their disdain (read “jealousy”) when a member
of the minority culture is accepted into and promoted within the majority
culture. Why should someone be called a “Tom” or an “Oreo,” as in the case
of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele? Why shouldn’t he simply be ignored as
one “confused?” (This is not to suggest that Lt. Gov. Steele is confused.)
The epithets are jealousy-laden.
In an oxymoronic fashion, further evidence
can be seen when someone within a minority culture succeeds in opposition to
the majority culture. For example, Tiger Woods is the hero of
African-Americans because of his victories in a “white” sport. O. J. Simpson
was perceived as beating “the system.” Colin Powel and Condelezza Rice are
recognized as not having held the Cabinet posts traditionally held for
minorities. These examples demonstrate that the majority culture, and
exaltation within, is still celebrated as ultimate.
Again, not to belabor the point, but the
majority culture is celebrated by virtue of being in the majority
and not having to adapt or change for anyone else. This can be just as
detrimental to seeing the Gospel reach all nations.
4. Is there any way for Christians
to use Kwanzaa as an opportunity for evangelism?
Kwanzaa would have to be divested of its
meaning in order to be used as an evangelism opportunity, in terms of
practicing Kwanzaa. One would have to remove the emphasis on ancestors,
then change the definitions within the Nguzo Saba, in order to provide an
evangelism tool. However, as much as Paul made a bridge from the Epicureans’
and Stoics’ unknown God to Christ, I think one can build a bridge from
human-centered self-determination to Christ-wrought triumph, in an attempt
to biblically contextualize the Gospel for a practitioner of Kwanzaa. This
is a unique opportunity for African-American believers.
________________
Rev. Eric C. Redmond is author of
Where Are All the Brothers? Straight Answers to Men’s Questions About the
Church (Crossway, 2008). His blog is
The Man from Issachar.
