Beyond Ideology: An Evening Conversation with Peter Kreeft and Eugene Rivers

On Monday, October 18, the Trinity Forum and Comment magazine were delighted to partner for an evening conversation with Dr. Peter Kreeft and Rev. Eugene Rivers to unpack the nature and implications of ideology’s reign in our present culture - both what it’s doing to our intellectual vitality as a society, but perhaps more urgently, what it’s doing to our civic and organizational life across sectors and geography.

[@maryspencer4274]

Wisdom bearer, love bearer, peace bearer, thank you

[@lorimorrison6539]

Thank you so much!! That was beautiful!!

[@youtubecharlie1]

“Insurrection”

[@ayeeski]

As Rivers said, King came out of nowhere (establishment perspective), but actually King came out of somewhere, the Black Church tradition, a tradition steeped in the story of Exodus, liberation, and journey to the Promised Land. A world needing liberation was invisible to the power structure. It seems to me that the very salvation of this country is the Black Church and the prophetic voices that have come out of it. Regarding the need for a "period of abject humility” suggests an infectious humility, like Ezra's public prayer and confession, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, causing the Israelites to grieve their sin... collectively.

[@VangelisFilms]

I agree that the salvation of the country will and should come from the Black Church. However, I think that the healing will really start when Black Americans remove bitterness and resentment from their hearts and forgive White Americans for slavery…and it should start with the Church. It goes without saying that no one alive has blood or guilt on their hands, but that’s the point. The perceived grievances will never end if those that still hold onto them choose to release themselves from that burden and take the lead in bringing us back together.

[@ayeeski]

​@@VangelisFilms For the most part my friends, who happen to be African-American are not bitter, although wouldn’t blame them if they were. Grown adults, a couple who I would trust with my life, are constantly being profiled by police and store security. The husband laughs it off. His wife still feels the sting of being held for police. I worked with them in a program to help foster youth. More than once, I encountered black youth who were being “case-managed” by the criminal justice system for chicken-shit stuff, mischief I was driven home by the police for. In one case, the youth had been charged with no crime. He was placed in JV because a judge decided he should be managed by the probation system. In 1865, Lincoln decided to “forgive and forget”. As a result he was assassinated, we got Andrew Johnson, a hundred years of Jim Crow, lynching, and black town-burnings. Slavery hasn’t ended… it has morphed. Forgiveness is not reconciliation. For reconciliation to occur, the perpetrators and the victims must face the truth together. White America must face its shadow instead of trying to white-wash it. The Black Church has brought the cry for justice to our attention. The ball is in White America’s court.

[@youtubecharlie1]

The story of Exodus is the escape from the slavery of the Devil’s lie. God empowers Israel to leave and worship Him alone. That’s the main message. Viewing it in the paradigm of race vs race can be a form of tunnel vision.