Love and the Racial Enemy: Theological Possibilities of Racial Reconciliation Between Black and White US Christians by Marvin E. Wickware, Jr. Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Willie Jennings, Co-supervisor ___________________________ J. Kameron Carter, Co-supervisor ___________________________ Luke Bretherton ___________________________ Joseph Winters Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 i v ABSTRACT Love and the Racial Enemy: Theological Possibilities of Racial Reconciliation Between Black and White US Christians by Marvin E. Wickware, Jr. Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Willie Jennings, Co-supervisor ___________________________ J. Kameron Carter, Co-supervisor ___________________________ Luke Bretherton ___________________________ Joseph Winters An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 i v Copyright by Marvin E. Wickware, Jr. 2018 Abstract In this dissertation, I examine the widespread failure of racial reconciliation work between black and white Christians in US American churches. I treat such failure as a failure of love, specifically the failure of black and white Christians to love each other as enemies. This sets two primary tasks for the dissertation. First, I work to understand this failure of love. Drawing on black studies—on the work of Frank Wilderson, in particular—I examine what I call the racial enemy relation, which I argue is a fundamental antagonism between black people and white people. This antagonism is grounded in and perpetuates white supremacist systems of violence and exploitation. I turn to affect theory to argue that this enemy relation is obscured by a distorted love. At the heart of this distorted love is what Sara Ahmed calls the promise of happiness. In short, I argue that racial reconciliation work fails insofar as Christians embrace an idea of love that confuses good feelings with good relations and, in doing so, are unable to confront the racial enemy relation with faithful love. Second, I give a Christian theological account of faithful love that can guide intervention into the distorted love of white supremacy and promote a constructive approach to love of the racial enemy. In conversation primarily with black, womanist, and feminist theologies, I argue for a notion of faithful love as the embrace of the lover’s need for the beloved, while holding such love accountable to self-love, love for God, and iv God’s love for those who suffer. I ground this account of love in an understanding of divine love as driven by God’s need for creation, including humanity. Ultimately, I argue that in confronting the racial enemy, Christians are called to embrace their need for their enemy and to pursue that need toward conditions of mutuality in their broader society. v For Beth, who has shown me how deep and wide love can grow vi Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Failures of love ........................................................................................................................ 3 Argument and outline ........................................................................................................... 6 Choices, inspirations, and hopes ........................................................................................ 10 1. Hope, Love, and the Racial Enemy Relation ....................................................................... 13 Understanding the enemy relation .................................................................................... 13 Focusing on racial antagonism ........................................................................................... 34 Afro-pessimism and black optimism ................................................................................. 49 Hope and the eschatological ............................................................................................... 58 Love as alternative affect ..................................................................................................... 68 2. Black Self-Love and the Racial Enemy in King, Malcolm, and Cone .............................. 87 Situating the misreading of King ....................................................................................... 89 Malcolm and Martin ............................................................................................................ 93 Martin King’s tough mind and tender heart .................................................................. 105 Cone’s Black God as the God of love ............................................................................... 122 Love and the heritage of the mother ................................................................................ 146 3. Distorted Love ....................................................................................................................... 163 The production and circulation of distorted love .......................................................... 168 vii Distorted love and its defenses ......................................................................................... 188 White fragility ..................................................................................................................... 204 Distorted love at the heart of corrupted churches ......................................................... 219 Dismantling the fantastic hegemonic imagination ........................................................ 226 4. Faithful Love .......................................................................................................................... 246 Love and racial reconciliation, so far ............................................................................... 246 Love as embraced need...................................................................................................... 260 What God is not .................................................................................................................. 265 God of love .......................................................................................................................... 270 Need and love on the cross ............................................................................................... 292 Divine love and faithful human love ............................................................................... 297 Love of the racial enemy .................................................................................................... 300 Conclusion: Jesus, Love, and Forgiveness ............................................................................. 309 References .................................................................................................................................. 328 Biography ................................................................................................................................... 337 viii Acknowledgements Without the support of my family, I could never have completed this dissertation. My wife, Elizabeth, has handled her shifting responsibilities—sometimes working full-time, sometimes taking on extra childcare, usually handling matters of finance that just don’t make sense to me—with the grace, intelligence, and kindness that are apparent to all those who are lucky enough to love her. Our older child, Nathaniel, has been a constant source of encouragement to me, and his deep sensitivity has pushed me to think more deeply about the importance and power of feelings. The giggling, wailing, and babbling of Gabriel, our younger child, have kept my work in perspective, reminding me of my limits and humbling me daily. My parents, Marvin Sr. and Jenifer, as well as my sister, Carmen, have frequently traveled hundreds of miles from Indiana to provide childcare and to keep the bonds of family strong. Without their love and encouragement, I could never have even made it to a doctoral program, and would have lacked the stubbornness to make it through. My parents-in-law, John and Suzanne Kilner, have worked faithfully to love their difficult son-in-law. My brother-in-law, Paul, has endured regular disruptions of the rhythm of his life, not only in travel between Chicago and Durham, but also in meeting the challenges of adding small children to the time we spend together. Suzanne, in particular, dropped everything to be with us when we lost our first pregnancy and made an isolating, painful experience into a lesson on ix love’s healing power. Our church family at Durham Presbyterian Church has also been crucial to the completion of this dissertation, not only as the community in which I have tried to live out the ideas that arose in my work, but also as a source of material and social support