Christ the Mediator and the Idol of Whiteness: Christological Anthropology in T. F. Torrance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Willie Jennings by Jacquelynn Price-Linnartz Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Jeremy Begbie, Supervisor ___________________________ Willie Jennings ___________________________ Edgardo Colón-Emeric ___________________________ Douglas Campbell Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2016 ABSTRACT Christ the Mediator and the Idol of Whiteness: Christological Anthropology in T. F. Torrance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Willie Jennings by Jacquelynn Price-Linnartz Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Jeremy Begbie, Supervisor ___________________________ Willie Jennings ___________________________ Edgardo Colón-Emeric ___________________________ Douglas Campbell Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2016 Copyright by Jacquelynn Price-Linnartz 2016 Abstract This dissertation asks how the theological anthropologies of T. F. Torrance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Willie Jennings help Christians diagnose and subvert the idolatry of our current racial imagination. It concludes that an idol we can call “whiteness” competes with Christ to function as the mediator of social identity, our goal and ideal human, and the icon held between us. This idolatry interferes with our ability to become the people we are meant to be together in Christ by the power of the Spirit. This theological anthropology enables us to identify the idol of whiteness at work in popular media like blockbuster movies, and it equips us to undermine this idol through our engagement of the arts, popular or otherwise, so that we might together develop a new, healthier, and holier imagination. iv Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iv Contents ...................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................................. xiii Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... xvi Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 0.1 Nasty Flesh .......................................................................................................... 1 0.2 Thesis .................................................................................................................. 3 0.3 Key Terms ............................................................................................................ 4 0.3.1 Self and Social Identity ....................................................................................... 5 0.3.2 Social Imagination ............................................................................................ 12 0.3.3 Race and Race-as-we-know-it .......................................................................... 13 0.3.4 Mediation ......................................................................................................... 17 0.3.5 Idolatry ............................................................................................................. 19 0.4 Outline .............................................................................................................. 21 0.4.1 Part 1: Theological Anthropology .................................................................... 22 0.4.1.1 Chapter 1: T.F. Torrance.......................................................................... 22 0.4.1.2 Chapter 2: Dietrich Bonhoeffer ............................................................... 23 0.4.1.3 Chapter 3: Willie Jennings ....................................................................... 24 v 0.4.1.4 Chapter 4: Conclusions about Christological Anthropology ................... 25 0.4.2 Part 2: Exposing and Subverting the Idol of Whiteness in Art ......................... 25 0.4.2.1 Chapter 5: Exposing the Idol in Popular Art ............................................ 25 0.4.2.2 Chapter 6: Subverting the Idol through the Arts .................................... 26 0.4.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 26 PART 1: THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY ............................................................................... 27 Chapter 1: T. F. Torrance ............................................................................................ 27 1.1 Broad Framework: Mediation between God and Humanity ................................ 29 1.1.1 Hypostatic Union .............................................................................................. 30 1.1.2 Covenant with Israel ........................................................................................ 35 1.1.3 The Trinity ........................................................................................................ 41 1.1.4 Summary of Broad Framework ........................................................................ 44 1.2 Theological Anthropology and Social Identity ...................................................... 45 1.2.1 Vicarious Humanity .......................................................................................... 46 1.2.1.1 Unity with all humans ............................................................................... 46 1.2.1.2 Fulfillment of humanity ............................................................................ 47 1.2.1.3 Unity with Christians ................................................................................. 52 1.2.2 Eschatological Participation ............................................................................. 54 1.2.3 Vertical and Horizontal Mediation ................................................................... 61 1.2.4 Radical Re-centering ........................................................................................ 64 1.2.5 The Church ....................................................................................................... 67 1.2.5.1 Substantive sidebar: The church and Israel .............................................. 74 vi 1.2.5.2 Torrance on Race ...................................................................................... 82 1.2.6 Summary of Theological Anthropology ........................................................... 84 1.3 Summary and Evaluation ...................................................................................... 86 1.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 96 Chapter 2: Dietrich Bonhoeffer ................................................................................ 103 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 103 2.1.1 Why Bonhoeffer? ........................................................................................... 103 2.1.2 Which Bonhoeffer? ........................................................................................ 106 2.2 Part 1: Christ’s Mediation of Social Identity ....................................................... 113 2.2.1 Creation and Fall: Limits, Centers, and Sin .................................................... 115 2.2.1.1 The center as limit .................................................................................. 116 2.2.1.2 Freedom-for sociality .............................................................................. 118 2.2.1.3 The false, limitless center: sicut deus, the isolated Self ......................... 120 2.2.1.4 Jesus Christ .............................................................................................. 121 2.2.2 Christ the Center ............................................................................................ 124 2.2.2.1 Christ mediates particular selves: revisiting “center” and “limit” .......... 125 2.2.2.2 Christological anthropology .................................................................... 127 2.2.3 Life Together: Mediation and Community ..................................................... 128 2.2.3.1 Mediation of reconciliation, particularity, and unity .............................. 129 2.2.3.2 Whose limit, which center? .................................................................... 132 2.2.4 The Spatial Metaphor Recap .......................................................................... 135 2.2.5 Anticipating the Spatial Model’s Significance for Racial Identity .................. 137 vii 2.3 Part 2. Church and Race ...................................................................................... 137 2.3.1 Community, Church, and Jesus Christ ........................................................... 138 2.3.1.1 Christian community and church community? ...................................... 139 2.3.1.2 A real ideal? ...........................................................................................