What is commonly known as Critical Race Theory is the philosophical backdrop for Leftist Ideologies today.ย
The following timeline and descriptions are not exhaustive. They are intended as tools to help those interested narrow the focus of their research.
1789-99 Rousseau โ egalitarianism โ French Revolution
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th Century Philosopher who proposed Egalitarianism as a solution to society’s problems. It was framed by the idea that 1. A social utopia was possible. Think “Build Back Better”. 2. This would require a dismantling of all social institutions that got in the way. 3. Once established, a temporary totalitarian government would be required to maintain the new utopia by force. Egalitarianism helped to fuel the French Revolution.
1830-40 Friedrich Hegel a contemporary of Rousseau is most famous for what is known today as the Hegelian Dialectic where the thesis conflicts with antithesis to form a synthesis. This is the root of “Dialectal Materialism” that is foundational to Marxist philosophy. The Hegelian Dialectic is a foundation for “discourse” in CRT and the principle of the “problem-reaction-solution” model employed by all totalitarian regimes to gain and maintain control. Hegel is important to the extent that he inspired Marx.
1848 Karl Marx published his renowned Communist Manifesto. While classical Marxism is economically based whereby a violent overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class was viewed as inevitable. However, Marx did not account for the fact that while the rich indeed got richer, the poor got richer too. The takeaway from Marxism that still applies today is conflict theory. Critical Theories are just rebranded Marxism in that the economic, “oppressor versus oppressed” as a conflict generator is replaced by race and gender. Hence the term “Cultural Marxism”.
1911 Chinese Revolution
Russian Communist Revolution 1917
American Communist Party forms 1919
1929 – 1935 Antonio Gramsci who was imprisoned by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was the first to define socialism as a religion and stated “socialism is precisely the religion that must kill Christianity.” He is best known for his Prison Notebooks that inspired future critical theorists and formed the basis for the theory of hegemony whereby instead of a violent and bloody revolution Marxist goals could be achieved through institutional manipulation and coercion via institutions like media, religion, and education. His socialist religion was rooted in “trust in man and his best strengths as the sole spiritual reality.”
1923 Frankfurt School of Economics is formed and Critical Theory is born in 1937. Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse were Marxists whose goal was to rethink and rebrand Marxism that had thus far failed to produce the projected utopian society.
Adorno believed that the authoritarian personality is the result of Capitalism, Christianity, Conservatism, The Patriarchal family, and Sexual repression.
Horkheimer took Critical Theory from being an analytical tool to one of implementing social change.
Marcuse was perhaps the most classically Marxist of the three and proposed that certain ideas, speech, behaviors, etc. must be disallowed. It could be argued that Marcuse is father of the current “Cancel Culture”.
1945-52 Chinese Communist Revolution
1960 Students for a Democratic Society, later became The Weather Underground. Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn participated in multiple bombings in the 1960s and โ70s. Both got off on a technicality. The concern over communism grew during these years. While conservatives went into government, law enforcement and the military to counter the threat, Marxists like Bill Ayers went into education to advance their agendas. Bill Ayers specialized in curriculum.
1963 undercover FBI agent Cleon Skousen presents a 45 point plan of the American Communist Party which included a discrediting of the nuclear family, the Bible, and the replacement of “revealed region” with a social form.
1966 Professors Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven developed what is known today as the Cloward – Piven strategy whereby the current socio-economic system in the USA would be dismantled by overwhelming social services and other entitlements with applicants until the entire system collapses and is replaced with one based on socialism. Those influenced by Cloward and Piven include Bill Ayers, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.
1967 Jacques Derrida develops what is commonly known today as “deconstructionism”. While it originally focused on textual criticism that is not without value in terms of Bible exegesis, it became foundational to cultural Marxist deconstruction we know as “cancel culture” today. It also underpins the process whereby so many Christians are deconstructing and falling away from the faith.
1969 Michael Foucault is best known for ideas like “power/knowledge” the idea that power is gained and maintained by producing and controlling what is accepted as knowledge. His book The History of Sexuality laid a foundation for the current gender-driven upending of society.
In the late 1960s – 70s Harvard law professor Derrick Bell develops critical legal theory. Bell is often considered an originator of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Besides the idea that racism is normal and endemic to society he also proposed “convergence theory” that in essence says white people are only capable of operating in accordance with their own self-interest. Hence any support of civil rights on the part of whites is because it converges with their interests.
1971 Herbert Marcuse postulates that radical feminism is the best platform for launching the cultural Marxist’s nonviolent revolution.
1971 Saul Alinsky a Barrack Obama mentor publishes Rules for Radicals. It becomes a manual for community organizers. It is prefaced with praising Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom.
1979 the atheist Post Modernism of Jean-Franรงois Lyotard is born. It is not taken very seriously outside of academic circles. It ultimately turns the idea of objective truth and especially objective moral law on its head. The result is that two generations were educated based on a system of relativistic thought that now teaches things like 2+2=5.
1986 the Standpoint Epistemology of Sandra Harding is often correlated with Critical Theories but is more a product of postmodernism and feminist philosophy. This has been called Ethnic Gnosticism by Voddie Baucham because it asserts secret knowledge on the part of the oppressed. Truth is based on individual lived experience. For example, a black woman knows things that can not ever be known by a white man. One result we see today is the idea that a white male must listen but not speak when it comes to subjects involving a black person or a female or any other oppressed person or group.
1989 Kimberly Crenshaw – Intersectionality essentially monetizes the victim stance by identifying oppressed and oppressor groups. Power is determined according the number of oppressed groups to which one can claim membership. A black female has power. A black lesbian has more. It is possible to belong to both an oppressed and oppressor groups e.g. a white Christian female or a gay male. However, a white cisgender Christian male can only be an oppressor. One’s only hope within the context of this world view is that new oppressed groups are being added daily to include “overweight” and “introvert”…
2001 Richard Delgado is often credited with condensing and formalizing CRT in his book Critical Race Theory – an Introduction. Among other things he planted the seeds of the current proposed anti-hate speech laws and outlined the basic framework upon which current CRT is based. They are as follows.
1. Racism is embedded in society and is normal. CRT begins with the assumption of racism and then searches for it until it is found. Real-time application: “anti-racism work” whereby white people are taught to seek out ways in which they are racist. They are taught there is no way not to be racist and this will be a lifelong endeavor. That said, only white people can be racist because they have all the power.
2. Convergence theory: Whites are incapable of doing anything except in their interest. For example, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is accused of attempting to conceal her racial bias by adopting black children. She couldn’t have done this out of genuine love. But rather to appease her own guilt for her inherent white privilege.
3. Racism is systemic. All systems eg. Education, Law, religion, etc. are racist. Hence the very foundations of society, language, history, and culture must be deconstructed (dismantled) and rebuilt from the ground up. (See Egalitarianism) Racism is an identity, not an action. Real-time application: a black man assaulting an Asian woman results from “Whiteness” imposed upon him by systemic racism.
4. All knowledge is socially constructed. Language forms the building blocks. What you say matters more than what you do. Today looting and burning by oppressed groups are “peaceful protests”. The January 6th, 2021 protest in Washington D.C. was terrorism by white supremacists. George Floyd is a hero because he died in the custody of white police. Ashley Babbit was a terrorist because she tried to climb unarmed through a window and was shot dead by a black police officer.
2008 Barrack Obama is elected POTUS. The teachings of his primary mentors e.g. Marxist pornographer Frank Marshal Davis, Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, and Liberation Theologian Jeremiah Wright provided the philosophical foundation for his radical transformation of America.
2011 the Occupy Wall Street movement emerges seemingly out of nowhere. Ironically funded by “one perecenter” billionaires like George Soros. The emerging classical Marxist narrative seeks to marginalize the 1% in and threatens to “burn it all down”.
2013 BLM is established by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to Travon Martin being shot by George Zimmerman.
2014 Michael Brown killed in St. Louis MO
2016 Donald Trump elected POTUS.
2017 ANTIFA emerges as a formidable presence in the USA. while the group traces its roots back to 1936 opposition to the Nazis its reemergence might be traced to the Occupy Movement. ANTIFA could be termed an anarchic-communist group with a horizontal leadership structure similar to Central American Drug cartels. However, the extent of their operations, organizational and communication sophistication are evidence of external financing and some form of centralized leadership. These are the jackbooted brown shirt-type thugs that along with BLM are what Vladimir Lenin called “useful idiots”. As has been the case in every Marxist revolution, these will be the first to be lined up and shot if and when the desired Marxist regime is achieved.
2018 “White Fragility” published by Robin DiAngelo essentially creates a Kafka Trap for white people who deny being racist in that their denial is taken as proof of guilt. White people are incapable of acting in a way that does not serve their own interests.
Bible Verses
Again, Critical Theories are a world view and even a religion.ย They have multiple epistemologies (how we determine truth), multiple ethical frameworks (how we determine right from wrong), and multiple metaphysical views (how we determine what is real). As Christians, our worldview is determined and articulated by scripture that is God breathed 2 Tim 3:16-17, Acts 17:11.
Here are some thematically arranged scriptures that will help you give a solid 1 Pet 3:15 apologia for the Christian worldview that is under assault by Marxist sociological theories.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Gen 1:26 all of are His image-bearers
Gen 3 we were all born into sin as a result of the fall.
Isaiah 64:6-7 โBut we are ALL like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness are like filthy rags;
Rom 3:10-18 Paul quotes Isaiah โAs it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Luke 13 Unless we repent of OUR OWN sins our fate will be the same as the Galatians.
2 Cor 4:4 god of this world has blinded unbelievers. Know where you stand. Know that world opposing world views are not argued away without a proverbial road to Damascus type experience.
Gen 11 The only division between peoples took place at the tower of Babel.
Acts 2:5-12 That division was dissolved by Holy Spirit.
Eph 2 Defines the valid dividing line between people. Those in Christ Jesus verse 6 and those who remain children of wrath verse 3. Denial of this core biblical truth is a subtle key to the growth of false CRT / social justice-based gospel narratives.
Righteousness is only possible through the blood of Jesus. Thatโs His righteousness, not ours.
Rom 3:25-26 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at present so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
2 Cor 5:16-19 โTherefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Gal 3:28-29 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.,
Rom 2:11-16 For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many, as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
Col 2:8 โBeware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.โ
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good…
Gal 1:8-10 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Verse 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preaches any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
The word for โaccuseโ in this verse is katฤgorรฉล from which the word โcategorizationโ is derived. The devil is constantly attempting to divide and categorize us. Those adhering to Critical Theories are doing the same. They represent the spirit of anti-Christ.
Biblical justice is based on our individual actions not the actions of those assigned to the same category.
Deuteronomy 19:15 on the basis of two or three witnesses.
Lev 19:15 no preference for the poor (or anyone else) injustice.
2 Tim 3:12 those living Godly will suffer persecution. There is no God-given plan to eliminate it before He returns. Hence justice will be determined by Him.
Isaiah 53:2-3 โHe has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.โ This is the only verse that declares anything about Jesusโs appearance. The declaration is made 700 years before Jesus was born. Those who proclaim that Jesus was a racial minority have no basis for this argument. He was somewhere on the scale between albino and black.
2 Cor 4:14-15 The true gospel says that one of Godโs purposes in blessing us is that our thanksgiving (should) abound to the glory of God. Gratitude to God for His blessings is a form of worship. But the social Justice gospel demands we atone for Godโs blessings.
Finally we have the issue of racism addressed in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. You can read about that here.
MARANATHA
