Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 35:69 (Autumn 2022)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JOTGES 35:69 (Autumn 2022) p. 85

Book Reviews

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe. By Voddie T. Baucham, Jr. Washington, D.C.: Salem Books, 2021. 251 pp. Hardcover, $24.99.

Baucham addresses the problem of critical race theory, intersectionality, critical social justice, and their impact on our society and Evangelicalism. These ideas view racism as being engrained in the very fabric of America. They see white privilege and white supremacy at the root of all our problems. Taken together, these ideas are the greatest threat to the gospel in our lifetime. The United States is on the verge of either a race war or a complete cultural breakdown (pp. 3–5).

Few people could write this book, and Baucham is one of those few. He is a black man who grew up poor and in a single parent home. During his early years, he experienced his share of racism. He is also an Evangelical, having graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He says that the social justice movement in our country, including Black Lives Matter, is contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures. In addition, many of the cases they say point to racism in our society, such as the killing of black men by police, grossly misinterpret the evidence (pp. 43–61). Whites are more likely than blacks to be shot by police (p. 49).

Baucham is a strong Calvinist. He says he became a believer when he believed the gospel and repented of his sins (p. 24).

He points out that the antiracism movement is a religion that does not offer any salvation because it sees racism as incurable (p. 67). In that view, white people oppress people of color even when they do not realize it. A professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary states that white people created whiteness in order to enslave black people (p. 71).

One problem in Evangelicalism is that many leaders are falling for the teaching that being white is the problem and that America and the American church are indeed racist to the core. Racism is no longer seen as a problem with certain individuals or a matter of the

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sinful heart but is systemic. We must confess our sins of white racism, supremacy, and privilege (p. 77). Even when we do, it will remain. We must acknowledge this sin that can never go away or be forgiven.

Oppressed minorities include more than people of color. Women, LGBTQIA, non-citizens, the disabled, the obese, the poor, and non-Christians, among others, are part of the group. All the oppressed have special knowledge and are able to see things that whites cannot. Baucham calls them “ethnic gnostics” (p. 92). Whites must listen and learn from them. Persona...