[Vision2020] Wilsons letter to the editor

[Captain Kirker]

Visionheads,

Regarding Douglas Wilson’s letter to the editor in yesterday’s Daily News, 
he wants all of his adversaries to have the exact quote from “A Serrated 
Edge” in context, so that you may see firsthand the book’s point. (Both the 
letter and the entire quote are appended below.)

According to Wilson, the Lord Jesus Christ hurled a racial insult at a 
foreign woman—a slur tantamount to the word “nigger”—in order to rebuke the 
racism of His disciples. Yes, Jesus used ethnic humor by degrading a woman 
in front of His disciples, to make the point that racism is wrong.

Point well made, Doug. We read you loud and clear.

The Captain is over and out.


To the Editor:

I read the newspaper coverage of recent comments by Sean Quinlan with 
astonishment (Daily News Feb. 9). But actually, I don’t know why I am 
surprised anymore. According to the story, Quinlan selectively quoted a 
passage from one of my books, making it appear as though I somehow approved 
of Jesus using ethnic slurs.

Anyone who took the time to read the passage in context (“A Serrated Edge,” 
p. 44) would see immediately my point was that Christ was rebuking the 
racism of his disciples, and that he was extending his healing grace across 
racial boundaries. But such clarity of mind is apparently beyond a 
professional historian. Such atrocious handling of a text can only be 
considered a product of desperation, incompetence, or malice, or any 
combination of these three.

I could use a similar technique on Quinlan’s words as quoted in the paper, 
saying that Quinlan said, “I . . . destroyed . . . n-----s.” But that 
wouldn’t be right, would it? But it is happening a lot lately, and so we 
need a name for it. Let’s just call it University of Idaho History 
Department Dot Dot Dot scholarship.

Douglas Wilson
Moscow


The following quote is from chapter three of "A Serrated Edge"; the chapter 
is called “The Satire of Jesus”:

"Jesus was not above using ethnic humor to make His point either.

"'And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto 
him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is 
grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his 
disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after 
us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and 
to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said 
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. 
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. (Mt. 15:22–28; Mk. 
7:27)'

"My understanding of this encounter is that Jesus was pulling his disciples’ 
chain. This woman was not a Jew, and the Jews had problems dealing with such 
people, considering them beneath contempt—in a word, dogs. Put in terms that 
we might be more familiar with, Jesus was white, and the disciples were 
white, and this black woman comes up seeking healing, for her daughter. She 
gets ignored. The disciples ask Jesus to send her off. She comes up and 
beseeches Christ for healing. It’s not right, He says, to give perfectly 
good white folk food to 'niggers.' Disciples mentally cheer. But she sees 
the look in His eye, and the inverted commas around the epithet, and answers 
in kind. He relents, which was His intent all along, and heals the woman’s 
daughter. If this understanding is right, then Jesus was using a racial 
insult to make a point. If it is not correct, then He was simply using a 
racial insult. In either case, His language is more than a little rough.

"All things considered, we can see that Christ’s use of satire in 
controversy hardly qualifies him as the original verbal pacifist. Quite the 
reverse. If there is anyone in Scripture who uses this form of expression as 
the most normal thing in the world, it is the Lord." [End of chapter.] 
(Douglas Wilson, "A Serrated Edge" [Moscow: Canon Press, 2003] pp. 43, 44.)

_________________________________________________________________
Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to design your homepage. 
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/