TOWARD A COUNTERNARRATIVE THEOLOGY OF RACE AND WHITENESS : studies in philosophy of race,... science fiction cinema, and superhero stories

"Our time shows the ways white supremacy continues to hold fast to its growing weapons of destruction, including in the theological realm. Unless the theological work does the work of breaking whiteness as a project of death, we will continue to see theology as a neutral project at worst, and a mild process of transformation at best. In this book, Christopher M. Baker invites us to go deeper than that, tackling the almost innate relation of whiteness and race and breaking it down." --Cláudio Carvalhaes, Associate Professor of Worship, Union Theological Seminary, USA "This interdisciplinary study of theology, race, cinema, and superheroes is a timely intervention that richly interprets the cultural formations of race while advancing social justice efforts. Baker exemplifies compelling, critical scholarship that is ethically aligned." --Sylvester A. Johnson, Founding Director, Virginia Tech Center for the Humanities, USA "This book gives language for the greatest challenge of our time, breaking the bondage of Christian theology and practice to white supremacy. By tracing the discrete pathways by which this bondage transmits itself surreptitiously through enactments of continental philosophy, it offers a significant opportunity." --Stephen G. Ray Jr., Chicago Theological Seminary President 2018 - 2021, USA This book argues that "race" and "whiteness" are central to the construction of the modern world. Constructive Theology needs to take them seriously as primary theological problems. In doing so, Constructive Theology must fundamentally change its approach, and draw from the emerging field of Philosophy of Race. Christopher M. Baker develops a genealogy of race that understands "whiteness" as a kind secular soteriology, and develops a counternarrative theological method informed by resources from Philosophy of Race. He then deploys that method to read science fiction cinema and superhero stories as cultural, racial, and theological documents that can be critically engaged and redeployed as counternarratives to dominant racial narratives. Christopher M. Baker holds a PhD in Theology from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA and teaches Philosophy and Religious Studies at College of DuPage, USA "Our time shows the ways white supremacy continues to hold fast to its growing weapons of destruction, including in the theological realm. Unless the theological work does the work of breaking whiteness as a project of death, we will continue to see theology as a neutral project at worst, and a mild process of transformation at best. In this book, Christopher M. Baker invites us to go deeper than that, tackling the almost innate relation of whiteness and race and breaking it down." --Cláudio Carvalhaes, Associate Professor of Worship, Union Theological Seminary, USA "This interdisciplinary study of theology, race, cinema, and superheroes is a timely intervention that richly interprets the cultural formations of race while advancing social justice efforts. Baker exemplifies compelling, critical scholarship that is ethically aligned." --Sylvester A. Johnson, Founding Director, Virginia Tech Center for the Humanities, USA "This book gives language for the greatest challenge of our time, breaking the bondage of Christian theology and practice to white supremacy. By tracing the discrete pathways by which this bondage transmits itself surreptitiously through enactments of continental philosophy, it offers a significant opportunity." --Stephen G. Ray Jr., Chicago Theological Seminary President 2018 - 2021, USA This book argues that "race" and "whiteness" are central to the construction of the modern world. Constructive Theology needs to take them seriously as primary theological problems. In doing so, Constructive Theology must fundamentally change its approach, and draw from the emerging field of Philosophy of Race. Christopher M. Baker develops a genealogy of race that understands "whiteness" as a kind secular soteriology, and develops a counternarrative theological method informed by resources from Philosophy of Race. He then deploys that method to read science fiction cinema and superhero stories as cultural, racial, and theological documents that can be critically engaged and redeployed as counternarratives to dominant racial narratives. Christopher M. Baker holds a PhD in Theology from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA and teaches Philosophy and Religious Studies at College of DuPage, USA Foreword Preface Abstract Contents Chapter 1: Introduction I II III IV References Chapter 2: Constructive Theology and Philosophy of Race, Part I Introduction Genealogy of “Race” and “Whiteness” Falguni A. Sheth and the “Technology of Race” Linda Martín Alcoff and the Future of Whiteness References Chapter 3: Constructive Theology and Philosophy of Race, Part II Introduction George Yancy: Rendering “Whiteness” Visible Charles W. Mills and White Epistemological Ignorance Emmanuel Chuckwudi Eze and “Vernacular Rationality” References Chapter 4: Race, Whiteness, and Science Fiction Cinema Introduction Theological Method and Film Racialization and Representation in American Science Fiction Cinema: Motifs of “Structured Absence,” “Bad Blood,” and Post-Racial Eugenics “Structured Absence”: When Worlds Collide and 2001: A Space Odyssey “Bad Blood”: The Birth of a Nation Post-Racial Eugenics: Blade Runner and Gattaca Conclusion References Chapter 5: Race, Whiteness, and Superhero Stories Introduction Scott McCloud’s Hermeneutic of Comics Superheroes: Grant Morrison’s Supergods Dan Hassler-Forest: Superheroes and Neoliberalism Aldo J. Regaldo: Superheroes and Modernity Adilifu Nama: Black Superheroes and Counternarrative Possibilities White Savior Motifs “How Hard Is It for a White Man to Enter the Kingdom of Wakanda?”: Black Panther, Afrofuturism, and the Subversion of the White Savior Motif References Chapter 6: Conclusion II III References Bibliography Index