Witnessing Whiteness in the Ethics of Hauerwas. Issue 1 (19th February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Norris, Kristopher
• Is Part Of: Journal of religious ethics. Volume 47:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 95
• Page End: 124
• Publication Date: 2019-02-19
• Subjects: racism -- whiteness -- Hauerwas -- white supremacy -- tradition; Ethics -- Periodicals; Religious ethics -- Periodicals; Morale religieuse; Religion; Théologie; 205
• DOI: 10.1111/jore.12251
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0384-9694

Abstract

Abstract: Despite constituting one of the most pressing ethical issues of our time, most white Christian ethicists and theologians fail to engage the issue of white supremacy in their work. As one of the most influential and prolific Christian ethicists of the past half‐century, Stanley Hauerwas represents this tendency, and provides specific reasons for his silence. This essay analyzes those reasons, and argues that a commitment to Alasdair MacIntyre's understandings of tradition and narrative frames his view on race and prevents his engagement of racism. It then highlights the ways this reflects the broader trends of silence, abstraction, and colorblindness among white Christian ethicists when it comes to the issue. Identifying these failures, the essay concludes by suggesting that Hauerwas's first published essay in 1969, on Black Power, provides resources for theologically engaging the problems of white supremacy today.