(ChurchLeaders) An article by John Piper on Jonathan Edwards, who is one of Piper’s heroes, is being blasted by some Christian leaders—particularly leaders of color.
“John Piper’s whitewashing of Jonathan Edward’s (JE) slave-owning & racism will keep blacks away from evangelicalism,” said Dr. Anthony Bradley, professor of religious studies at The King’s College in New York City. “Piper can’t admit that JE had terrible theological anthropology (which he applied). Don’t follow this model. JE was theologically flawed.”
RELATED: Race and the Church Podcast Series: Listen. Be Informed. Lead.
John Piper and His Hero, Jonathan Edwards
In an Aug. 10 article titled, “How Could Jonathan Edwards Own Slaves? Wrestling with the History of a Hero,” John Piper attempts to come to terms with the fact that one of his spiritual mentors was also a slave owner. Edwards had a major impact on Piper’s life over a period of years.
Says Piper, “It was Edwards, more than any other writer outside the Bible, that God had used to crucify those sinful attitudes [of pride and self-centeredness] in me…In my experience of reading Edwards, this demeanor of brokenhearted joy was the effect of his radical God-centeredness. No one had lifted my view of God as high as Edwards had.”