HOW THE BIBLE DESTROYS THE FOUNDATIONS OF RACISM by C. Herbert Oliver for Core Christianity
P&R Publishing has recently re-released No Flesh Shall Glory: How the Bible Destroys the Foundations of Racism, originally published in 1959. The book is written by C. Herbert Oliver, a civil rights activist and Presbyterian minister whose courageous voice offers profound insight into racism and related issues facing the church and society today. In honor of Black History Month, the team at Core Christianity wanted to share the following excerpt from Oliver’s book:
True harmony among men depends on agreement. Where there is no agreement, there can be no harmony. Where there is little agreement, there is little harmony. Where there is broad agreement, there is great harmony. Two soloists make a duel, not a duet.
But there can be no genuine agreement unless there is genuine understanding. Two individuals cannot be called friends if they are not acquainted with each other. And the degree of the friendship is determined by the depth of the acquaintance. If the acquaintance is shallow, the friendship will be shallow. If the acquaintance goes deep, then it is possible for the friendship to go deep and to develop into a profound mutual understanding.
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While harmony depends on agreement, and agreement on understanding, in human relations the most basic ingredient of good understanding is association. Without association there can be neither understanding, nor agreement, nor harmony among men. Segregation strikes at the very heart of good human relations, for it rules out the kind of association necessary to improve human relations.
Having seen that harmony among people distinguished by accident of color or features cannot be achieved without association, it remains to discover just what is involved in such association. Mere association without a goal would be meaningless. But what should the goal be?
