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Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair by Duke L. Kwon and Gregory Thompson
A Review
In the roiling wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the eruption of sometimes violent protests in cities around the world, the toppling of confederate statues and legislative (and ministerial) anguish over critical race theory, two conservative Presbyterian pastors quietly push out a book on, ahem, reparations.
Within a few months of the 2021 release of, Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair, authors Duke L. Kwon and Gregory Thompson have received friendly (and not so friendly) fire, some coming from within the same theological wheelhouse of the Protestant Reformed tradition (think John Calvin). With its strong talk of White supremacy, moral blindness and theological sheltering of racism, Reparations is forcing a difficult – but necessary – conversation that is long overdue.
This review begins by summarizing the book’s key tenets, theological framing and urgent plea for white Christians to take seriously the moral force of the argument for reparations. It then considers a strident critique of the book by another Reformed pastor, Kevin DeYoung, which, in turn generated strong written and oral rebuttals by both co-authors. We conclude with thoughts on theological contextualization and where the impassioned conversation could go from here.
Read It and Weep
Reparations is extremely well organized, researched, argued, and accessible. Within the broad scope of American political debate about race, Reparations resembles a somber family chat – a “come let us reason together” polemic for white Christians. From dusty sermons of centuries past to scandalous accounts of churches trading in slaves, and from exegesis of Old Testament texts on restitution to the New Testament account of the reparations joyfully paid by Zacchaeus, the wily tax collector who met Jesus, the book is an eye-opener (for pale-skinned American Christians, anyway). The book’s accessibility and readability stem from a clear statement of its commitments, and a credible synthesis of history, economics, theology and ecclesiology to support them.
To be sure, each of these areas could be probed at a far deeper level, but as an introductory text, Reparations makes a compelling case. The authors contend that the American church has a fundamental responsibility to acknowledge and respond to the theft of black truth, power and wealth made possible by the entrenched and enduring culture of White supremacy. The three thefts represent a comprehensive raping of a culture in terms of its history, identity and autonomy; its physical, mental and spiritual vitality; and its wealth and capacity to build wealth. In short, the theft of black humanity.
Encultured within the larger American economic and political landscape, the church’s culpability arises from its “complex history,” which included moments of moral leadership dimmed by sins of both commission and omission. The authors recount the church’s various roles as both perpetrators and, at times, silent witnesses over centuries of black oppression, from slavery to Jim Crow and segregation.
The argument rests on several core convictions: first, that we need to stop thinking of racism in the past tense, or as personal prejudice or even institutional biases, even though those concerns remain. Rather, the authors contend that:
“Racism is best understood culturally, as a force that shapes the entire ecosystem of meanings, values, ideas, institutions and practices of American culture. Seeing racism in this way—as embedded in an entire cultural order—is important not only because it reminds us that each of us, simply by virtue of living in this culture, is implicated and affected by the reality of American racism but also because it reminds of just how expensive the work of repairing racism ultimately will be.”[1]
Some will find that indictment – first of the church’s involvement in plundering blacks, and second that American culture is a machine still geared to that end – a tough pill to swallow, particularly as the incendiary term “White supremacy” appears on just about every page. The authors acknowledge this discomfort, noting how the act of squaring up to the nation’s painful racial past gets personal very fast as it can threaten one’s personal identity, history and aspirations. Yet they implore us to keep listening.
While primary responsibility likely falls to the government to make reparations, Kwon and Thompson contend that the church also has a moral debt to pay. This responsibility derives not simply from past actions and attitudes, but from its identity as a “community constituted by an act of love and committed to the work of love in the midst of the world,” and by its missional calling.[2] Proceeding to do its work without paying attention to this issue, the authors contend, undermines both the efficacy and integrity of the church’s mission. In plain speak, the church is hypocritical if it does not face up to this issue.
There is good news in this somber reckoning: the church is endowed with both the ethical and relational framework – not to mention the example and empowerment of a foot-washing Savior – to bind up the broken-hearted and set the prisoners free. The authors look closely at Old Testament texts commanding restitution in the case of theft, deliberate or unintended, whether the victim is living, knowable or long dead. Circumstances vary, say the authors, but the principle remains. Zacchaeus was acting on the Mosaic injunction when he promised to give “half of my goods to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything I restore it fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). And the Lord was glad.
Reparations also gives voice to early Christian advocates for restitution. Tract-writing Thomas Paine asked, “Are we not, therefore, bound in duty to [God] and to them to repair these injuries, as far as possible? What singular obligations are we under to these injured people!” His plea fell on deaf ears. The reason American Christians were not stirred to action then was not because they didn’t believe in restitution. Rather, they “didn’t believe they had stolen anything—or anyone.”[3]
That attitude of moral rectitude, or willing blindness, to quote the authors, persists to the present day; the idea of corporate guilt does not darken the mind of an American individualist, or white American Christians, for that matter. In fact, it is anathema. Yet, as the authors show, whether one’s ancestors were southern slaveholders or northern capitalists, or anyone in between, they all benefited from the system. Wealth extracted from slave labor found its way into pockets up and down the seacoast, if not around the world. Moreover, that “living currency” has been passed down, generation upon generation.
To point to one example, the combination of inherited wealth and institutional racist housing policies have contributed to the vast gap in black/white homeownership, the most significant component of household wealth. The disparity is shocking. According to a Brookings study, in 2016 the net worth of a typical white family was nearly ten times that of a black family ($171,000 v. $17,150). The wealth gap “reveals the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception…Wealth was taken from these communities before it had the opportunity to grow.”[4] As members of a shared culture, culpability comes to rest at the feet of the beneficiaries, even many generations removed.
Beyond making restitution, all Christians are called to the work of restoration as beautifully portrayed in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan was clearly not the guilty party, yet he responded compassionately and sacrificially to aid the victim. The knock-out punch of the story is that he crossed racial lines to do it. Hence, the church has a two-fold opportunity to engage in the work of restitution as “returning what one wrongfully took” and restoration as “restoring the wronged to wholeness.”[5]
With such force, the book climbs a difficult mountain but then disappointingly plateaus at the end. Having striven to give the “why” for reparations, it leaves the complex and discomfiting questions of “how” and “how much” for another day. Nevertheless, Reparations takes the reader far along a bruised path. It’s a strong opener to a needed conversation.
Want more? Read my review of the critique of Reparations by Rev. Kevin DeYoung, and the authors’ rebuttal.
[1] Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson, Reparations, Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, MI. 2021, 15.
[2] Ibid., 15.
[3] Ibid., 152-3.
[4] Kriston McIntosh, Emily Moss, Ryan Nunn, and Jay Shambaugh, “Examining the Black-White Wealth Gap,” February 27, 2020. Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-white-wealth-gap/
[5] Reparations, p. 17.
[6] Kevin DeYoung, “Reparations: A Critical Theological Review,” The Gospel Coalition, April 22, 2021. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/reparations-a-critical-theological-review/
[7] Ibid.
[8] Gregory Thompson, “Sanctifying the Status Quo: A response to Reverend Kevin DeYoung.” https://thefrontporch.org/2021/07/sanctifying-the-status-quo-a-response-to-reverend-kevin-deyoung/
[9] Ibid.
[10] Episode 467: “Reparations:” The Review & The Response with Gregory Thompson. The Holy Post, https://www.holypost.com/post/episode-467-reparations-the-review-the-response-with-gregory-thompson
[11] Esay McCaulley, Reading While Black, Intervarsity Press, 2020, 12.
[12] Kevin DeYoung, “The World Is Catechizing Us Whether We Realize It or Not,” The Gospel Coalition, August 24, 2021. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/the-world-is-catechizing-us-whether-we-realize-it-or-not/
[13] Karen Swallow Prior, “Don’t believe in systemic racism? Let’s talk about the sexual revolution,” Religion News, July 12, 2021. https://religionnews.com/2021/07/12/dont-believe-in-systemic-racism-lets-talk-about-the-sexual-revolution-charlottesville-robert-e-lee/
[14] Episode 467: “Reparations:” The Review & The Response with Gregory Thompson. The Holy Post, https://www.holypost.com/post/episode-467-reparations-the-review-the-response-with-gregory-thompson
[15] Reparations, 166.