THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBERATING THE NEOLIBERAL BLACK CHURCH: A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO THE IDEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE OF NEOLIBERALISM ON THE BLACK CHURCH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY DAVID GREGORY LATIMORE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2020 For the ones whose love has sustained me: My wife, Tammie, and my children, Grace, Sydney, David II, Lauren, and Nina TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments viii Introduction I. The Question and its Presuppositions 1 II. What is the ‘Black Church’? 3 II.i. The Historical and Theological Norms of the Black Church 4 II.ii.The Neoliberal Black Church 7 III. Ideology of Neoliberalism 9 III.i.Economism of Neoliberalism 11 III.ii.Endogenous Theology 12 IV. Economic Oppression 13 IV.i.Communal Responses to Oppression 17 V. The Response: LazarIan Liberative Theology. 18 VI. Project Outline 21 Chapter 1: The Black Church and the Norm of Resistance I. Introduction 23 II. Critique: Legitimacy of the Black Church as Ecclesiological Category 26 II.i. Argument for Universal versus Particular ecclesiologies 26 II.ii.Value of a black Church ecclesiology 28 III. Goals of the black church ecclesiology 29 III.i.Discerning Unifying Threads 29 III.ii.Critical Historical Considerations 30 III.iii.Discerning Norms for the Church 31 III.iv.Presupposition of this ecclesiological and theological Evaluation 32 IV. Critique: Theological Deficiency of the Black Church 33 IV.i.Concern regarding Christianity’s Introduction to the Enslaved 33 IV.ii.Additional Theological Disconnection 34 IV.iii.Theological Deficiency of the Black Church 35 V. Re-Evaluating the Causes of Deradicalization 36 V.i. The Receipt of Christianity 39 V.ii.Subversive Capacity of Christianity 41 iii VI. Resistance and the Black Church 43 VI.i.Question of Causation 43 VI.ii.Evidence of Resistance Prior to Christianity 44 VI.iii.Resistance and The Early Black Church 47 VI.iv.Resistance as a Norm of the Black Church 50 VII.An Alternative Causation of Deformation 52 VIII.Case of Economic Causation During the Great Migration 59 VIII.i.The Growing Influence of Economic Concerns 59 VIII.ii.Growing Ecclesial Competition 61 VIII.iii.Measuring Church Impact with Economic Criteria 61 VIII.iv.The Impact of Economic Agency on Black Churches in the South 64 IX. Beginning Signs of Class Division 65 X. Question of Relevance: Resistance and Complicity 66 XI. Conclusion 69 Chapter 2: The Seduction of Neoliberalism I. Concern of Deradicalization 72 I.i. Deradicalization As Theological Deformity 74 I.ii. Question of Foundation 75 I.iii. Choice of the Neoliberal Black Church 77 I.iv. Failure to Account for Economic Influence 77 II. Protestantism and Capitalism 78 III. Protestant Theology and Humanity 81 III.i.Objects of Human Worship 82 III.ii.Role of Rationality 83 IV. The Homo Religiosus 84 IV.i.The Homo Religiosus: Connections to the Divine 86 IV.ii.The Homo Religiosus: Understanding Human Freedom 88 IV.iii.The Homo Religiosus: Failures to Achieve Good 90 V. The Competing Ideology: Homo Oeconomicus 92 V.i. Origins of the homo oeconomicus 93 V.ii. The Place of Distinction for the Homo Oeconomicus 95 iv VI. The Ideology of Neoliberalism 95 VI.i.The Sovereignty of the Marketplace 96 VI.ii.The Freedom and the Individual 99 VI.iii.Neoliberalism Cooption of Freedom 101 VI.iv.Problems with Neoliberalism’s freedom 104 VII. Choice and Satisfaction 105 VIII.Critiques of Neoliberalism from within Economics 107 VIII.i.Question of Resource Disparity 107 VIII.ii.Just How Free is a Free Market? 109 VIII.iii.Neoliberalism: A Governing Rationality 109 Chapter 3: The Case for a Theological Rebuttal I. What is at stake? 113 II. Birth of the Neoliberal Black Church 115 III. The Danger of Economism’s Embrace 117 IV. The Basis for a Theological Critique 122 IV.i.Historical Connection of Theology and Economics 122 IV.ii.Alienation in Marxism 124 IV.iii.Marxism as Religion? 127 IV.iv.Religion According to Keynesianism 128 IV.v.Different View of Self-Interest 129 IV.vi.Religion According to Capitalism 132 IV.vii.Religion according to Neoliberalism 136 V. Endogenous Theology of Neoliberalism 138 V.i. Neoliberalism’s Eschaton 140 V.ii. The Danger of an endogenous theology 142 VI. Framework for Evaluating Neoliberal Deformity of the Black Church 143 VI.i.Eschatology 143 VI.ii.The Individual and Sin 144 VI.iii.The Problem of Satisfaction and Choice 148 VI.iv.The Challenge of Community 150 VI.v.Problem of Disparity 151 VII. The Theological Concern for the Church 151 v Chapter 4: Crisis of Complicity I. Restatement of the Concern 154 II. A Question of Proof 160 II.i. Examining Preaching 160 II.ii.Commodification of Christian Education and Worship 162 II.iii.Another Possibility: Suburbanization 163 III. Case of Suburbanization 166 IV. Suburbanization of the Neoliberal Black Church 172 V. Theological Challenge of Suburbanization 176 VI. The Endogenous Theology Neoliberalism at Work 180 VI.i.Bearers of Tradition 181 VI.ii.Shaping Identity and Character 183 VI.iii.Contextual Interpretation 185 VII. Possibilities for the Church 186 VIII.The Opportunity for the Neoliberal Church 192 Chapter 5: A Lazarian Liberative Theology I. The Neoliberal Black Church’s Need for a New Theological Framework 195 I.i. Framework of a Lazarian Liberative Theology 198 I.ii. Biblical Framework 200 I.iii. Lazarian Liberative Theology’s Goal 202 II. The Condition of the Neoliberal Black Church 206 II.i. Suburbanization 206 II.ii.Suburbanization as Weltanschauung 209 II.iii.The Invitation for the Neoliberal Church 211 III. The Antidote: Lazarian Liberative Theology 213 III.i.The Necessity of Liberation 213 III.ii.The Response to Hopelessness 215 III.iii.Resources for a Response to these Challenges 220 III.iv.Response to Irrationality 225 IV. The Dialectic of a Lazarian Liberative Theology 232 IV.i.Material Consequences 234 vi IV.ii.Communal Role 236 V. Summary 238 VI. Next Steps 240 VI.i.Effects of Economism on the Identity of the Neoliberal Black Church 240 VI.ii.The Neoliberal Black Church as Firm 240 VI.iii.Commodification 241 VI.iv.Development of the Lazarian Liberative Model 241 VI.v.Economistic Liberation Theology 242 VI.vi.Economism and Church Leadership 242 VI.vii.Re-narrating Black Church History 243 Bibliography 245 vii Acknowledgments This project is the fruit of the tremendous investment made by so many into my life. Accordingly, I do not have adequate space to fully express my thanks and appreciation to all who have blessed me through this process. However, let me begin with those at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. I wish to express my profound thanks to my advisor throughout this program, Dr. Dwight Hopkins. From the time I sat down with Dr. Hopkins to explore the possibility of applying to the Ph.D. program at the university, throughout the many classes I have had with him, and during the countless meetings where he offered questions that challenged me and words to encourage me, Dr. Hopkins has been a persistent and relentless supporter of my scholarly pursuits. He has modeled for me a life within the academy that I now seek to pursue. His commitment to his community, profound impact on the lives of the many scholars under his care, and constant academic contribution to discussions critical to issues of importance to the black church are both a tremendous gift to the world and an example I hope to emulate. Along with Dr. Hopkins, I am deeply indebted to Dr, Rieger and Dr. Gamwell. Dr. Gamwell provided me the space to explore this interesting intersection between religion and economics. I benefited from the rich conversations in his classroom and on his couch, where he welcomed me with warmth, penetrating questions, and constant encouragement. Dr. Rieger has been a particularly important interlocutor. His long and distinguished commitment to exploring issues of religion and class provided a constant catalyst for me to think more deeply and broadly as I envisioned both the current conditions of the black church and the possibilities that viii exist for those institutions. Dr. Rieger’s graciousness with his time and insight have enriched me as he also reminded me of the significant work yet to be done. It is said that all writing is autobiographical. This is certainly true with this project. The questions driving this work are born of my many years of service within the black church. As such, I am indebted to the many churches and church leaders that have left an indelible mark upon me. Just a few of those individuals and institutions are: Elder Robert Pruitt and Bethel Temple Church of Christ Holiness, Pastor Zan Holmes and St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, Bishop Paul Morton and Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, Bishop Tommie Triplett and Southern Union Baptist Church, Pastor Frederick Davis and First Calvary Baptist Church, and Pastor Issac Singleton and Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I would be remiss if I did not express my particular thanks to Mt. Zion Baptist Church for investing in my life in the academy through its provision of financial support and of the time needed to pursue both my Ph.D. and my D.Min. degrees while I served as pastor. I would not have completed this journey if not for their kindness, encouragement, and support. My thanks also to Fifteenth Avenue Baptist Church for also allowing me the time, space, and support for completing this dissertation. Finally, I wish to express my thanks to my family. To my father, mother, and sister, all of whom have entered into their eternal reward, they have my eternal thanks.