In the last few years, a lot of media hubbub surrounded the supposed entrance of Critical Theory or Critical Race Theory into school curricula. That conversation is separate from the one I seek to entertain here and I am taking the opportunity afforded by that debate’s having settled down a bit to make an observation about how the culture and its values so easily infiltrate our thinking as Christians.
Critical Theory: A Brief Layman’s Definition
Critical Theory refers to the category of thought introduced largely by the Frankfurt School, a group of German philosophers who eventually sought refuge in the U.S. during the events leading up to WWII (1). They were Marxist thinkers who recognized that the original theory of an uprising of the masses might not happen in the way they had expected. Indeed, in the highly industrialized Germany – where the revolution should have happened – it never came to be. The Frankfurt School thought about re-casting Marx’s ideas in ways that might get a wider reach. Instead of pointing to economic oppression, they sought to reinterpret Marx’s ideals more into the language of personal identity.
They believed that people were being oppressed not merely in terms of their economic status, but in ways of thinking. The cultural hegemony (whatever the majority of a culture believes) was oppressive, they said. The solution? Break free from it.
Any system of thought that suggested there was an objective truth (a truth outside of us, that is true whether we like it or not) was seen as oppressive. The solution, to them, was to cast off these systems and to move toward thought that was free from the “restriction” of truth (2). In this endeavor, they were highly suspicious of science, since it purported to give concrete answers to real-world questions. Moreover, they were incredibly suspicious of religion – after all, it said there was a God who gets to determine what is right and wrong.
The 21st Century: Critical Theory Gets Legs
A number of scholars whose work was produced in the 1990s came to gain traction in the university by around 2010. They had built upon the work of the Frankfurt School and had suggested that the best way to get at a truth was to interpret the world through the lens of oppression. This is frequently called Intersectionality (3). Since these scholars are Postmodernists and believe that objective truth does not exist, they are looking for ways to better interpret the world. They believe that by looking through the lens of layers of oppression, we can learn more about how other people see the world.
And indeed, there is a kernel of truth in nearly every philosophy! By stepping into the shoes of another, we can see the world in a way that’s fresh and new to us. Surely the woman at the well lived her life under the burden of multiple layers of identity: she was a woman, she was a Samaritan, she was a societal outcast. Surely, she has seen something of the sweetness of Jesus’ grace that few others do! But unguarded, this can easily slip into believing that the only way to find the truth is to be oppressed. Indeed, modern Critical Theorists today claim that the more oppressed you are, the more you know and the more you can be trusted to see things that others simply cannot see. The “lived experience” of a person becomes the ultimate truth-getter. Your story matters more than any other standard of what is right and wrong. Indeed, in this truth-less postmodern context, what is immoral for you might be totally moral for another person, because of their lived experience.
Everybody’s a Philosopher Now
Few of us realize the background behind Critical Theory. Indeed, I only began to study the movement in 2019. And yet the more you read about it, the more you realize how many of our ideas are rooted in this vision of the world. How did this come to be? Most of us are not philosophy majors. Most of us hadn’t even heard of intersectionality until the last few years and then only in passing. Indeed, CRT itself was until a few years ago simply a theory or area of developing interest limited to a couple of lectures for those occupying the rarified air of law schools.
But now it’s common to hear someone say in today’s language something like “you do you!” Even more frequently, we hear encouragements to “live your best life” and to “create your own reality.” Motivational quotes that remind us that “it’s about the journey, not the destination” sound benign enough, but are we aware of the underpinnings that make this sentiment seem good to us? Modern marriage counseling might encourage couples to “speak their truth” as a means to resolving conflicts, but where did the idea come from that we can have our truth? Isn’t there just the truth?
Lived Experience
Today, you will hear people talk about “Lived Experience.” And while everyone does indeed have a story and everyone’s story matters and can indeed teach us all something, lived experience has come to be equated with real evidence and truth. If someone has experienced it, it is now real. To point out objections, inconsistencies, or even the possibility that a person might be interpreting their situation wrongly is to suggest that you have the truth and they are wrong. You have erased their “lived experience.”(4) Consider how this philosophy would affect counseling, medicine, and as we turn to now, church.
Critical Theory Goes to Church
I am deeply interested in these things because, at the root of it, I am called to pastor, love, understand, and evangelize people who are cooked in the kettle of these ideas. In truth, I am subject to them too. I have uttered some of the catch phrases above, totally unaware of their history.
But this reality is making evangelism, ministry, and life together in church all the more challenging. In order to meet this challenge, we need to be like the men from the Tribe of Issachar in 1 Chronicles 12: “men who understood the times and knew what to do.” Indeed, we are commanded to understand the philosophies of the age so we are not taken captive by them and conformed into their mold (Col 2:8; Rom 12:1-2).(5)
While none of us would call ourselves Critical Theorists, contemplate the following ways** the ideas creep in to the church:
• “I can’t say what is the right thing to do; I’ve never been in that situation.”
• “I know I am called to be generous, but my story is one of student loans. I paid on them for so long, it’s time to live a little.”
• “_______ might be wrong for you, but it’s right for our story. You don’t know what we’ve been through. We deserve to be happy.”
• “I know the Bible teaches _____, but I wrote a paper in college and concluded otherwise.” - An actual retired pastor I know.
• “The Bible may instruct us to be baptized, but my story is one of fear in front of crowds. It might not be right for me.”
• “He’s been through so much; maybe calling him to turn away from his sin will turn him off to Jesus.” (6)
• “I don’t need the church body; I can worship God in the deer stand. That’s my sanctuary.”
Irony of Ironies
Did you notice the theme in these phrases above? “My lived experience trumps God’s revelation.” In other words, “there is no (big T) Truth; there is only what is right for me and my story.” The irony with Critical Theory creeping into the church is that its Marxist ideas are coming to have sway among otherwise theologically conservative traditionalists deep in southern, red state, Bible-carrying church life. The biggest danger I see that Christians should be worried about is not whether Critical Theory might gain a foothold on a school board somewhere, but rather that Critical Theory might interfere with our own personal relationship with God and our ability to speak in a way that makes sense with someone we are trying to evangelize. Before we look outward to take the battle to the culture, let’s ensure that we aren’t falling prey to the schemes of the devil in our own minds. After all, if we (even silently) believe that our experience or knowledge can supersede God’s revelation, we won’t relate to God the way he has intended us to. And we will compromise His Gospel when explaining it to others.
A Reminder and A Plea
Friends, if God has revealed something to us in his word, it is there for our good and our flourishing. God is not trying to “hide the ball,” to use a baseball reference. Our experience or feelings don’t get to trump God’s truth. Indeed, in our pursuit of finding happiness and fulfillment in “our own story” or “on our own path,” we might come to find that that road leads to our greater hardship and trouble. Why? Because God has fundamentally given us his word so that we might find our greatest pleasure and fulfillment in Him! Our stories matter to God. But they must be interpreted and re-tooled in light of his Word if we are to live the abundant life he desires for us. Christian, look nowhere else for truth. Look nowhere else for joy!
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**Some of the examples listed above more neatly fall into the general category of relativism instead of Critical Theory, proper. However, insofar as they colloquially demonstrate that one's own lived experience might usurp biblical revelation as their moral compass, the illustration stands.
(1) See Steven Eric Bronner, Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Raymond Geuss, The Idea of a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 58.
(2) Raymond Geuss, The Idea of a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 58.
(3) Crenshaw’s seminal 1991 academic paper first introduced this term. Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (July 1991): 1241-1299.
(4) Some committed leftists have even begun raising an alarm here. They wonder if we are unintentionally getting to the place where “everything I say is true; everything you say is a lie. To question me is to do me harm. If we disagree, whichever of us has suffered more, wins.” This “absolutism” is leading to an “epistemological chaos,” a situation in which no one will soon be able to speak – in any meaningful way – about what is true or false. Jill Lepore, “She Said, She Said,” July 2020, in The Last Archive, produced by Pushkin, podcast, MP3 audio, 47:02, https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hExtTlVModWeR5FLmqRrh?si=c898e5067f5848c0.
(5) Col 2:8 - 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. Romans 12:2 - 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(6) Rosaria Butterfield made this point in a recent podcast episode. She suggests that by acting as if those caught in sexual sin don’t need to repent because their temptations are “so large,” we might be unintentionally telegraphing that we don’t even want them to come to Jesus. For context, Dr. Butterfield is a former lesbian and a former tenured radical at Syracuse University who authored the university’s first domestic partnership policy. Excuse the episode’s rather clickbait title. Allie Beth Stuckey and Rosaria Butterfield, “Ep. 796: Former Lesbian Activist Calls ‘Soft’ Christians to Repentance,” in Relatable, produced by The Blaze, April 27, 2023, podcast, MP3 audio, https://open.spotify.com/episode/16xtWnV6JDsMsytfOnaC1u?si=178bbd92962f46f9.