The Fellowship of the Ring and The Fellowship of the Cross: An Urgent Call for a More Credible and Unified Christianity

By Ruben Rivera

"It began with the forging of the great rings of power. Three to the elves; Seven to the dwarf lords; And nine to the race of men, who above all else desire power. But they were all of them deceived. For another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mt. Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring to control all others. And into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all."

Narrator

The quotes, in case there is somebody in North America that doesn't know, are from the 2001 film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic The Fellowship of the Ring, first book in the famous trilogy The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1954. Sauron, a Satan-like figure whose name even looks similar, failed in his first attempt to enslave all of Middle Earth when he was defeated by a desperate alliance of the races of men and elves, and the ring of power was cut from his hand. However, as the film's narrator goes on to say, "the hearts of men are easily corrupted." And upon this weakness the Dark Lord Sauron was thus able build, deceiving men into keeping the ring of power, and thereby missing the chance to destroy evil forever by casting it into the fires from which it came.

3000 years later, the One Ring has happened into the possession of the simple Hobbit, Frodo Baggins of the Shire. Now, a reluctant Frodo and eight companions who comprise the Fellowship of the Ring must make the long and dangerous journey to the stronghold of Mordor. Pursued by Sauron's Dark Riders and other dangers, not the least of which is the temptation to use the power of the ring and so be corrupted by it. Their unlikely quest is to destroy the ring of power by casting it into the fires of Mount Doom, before the Evil Lord regains possession of it, and with it plunges all the races of Middle Earth into darkness, an endless age of violence, slavery, misery and despair. The stakes are the highest imaginable. The threat of Sauron's victory is nothing less than the creation of a hell on earth.

What Tolkien has done is to create a brilliant fictional world populated with many races and cultures embroiled in a titanic life and death struggle between the corrupting, destructive and enslaving forces of evil against the magically beautiful and utopian forces of good. At the Council of Elrond, the urgency was heeded and resulted in the formation of a small multiracial, multicultural band called the Fellowship of the Ring, dedicated to meeting the threat and bringing peace and freedom to Middle Earth.

For most of its history, Christianity has taught that humanity is in a spiritual war against the corrupting forces of the world, the flesh and the devil. We have come to this conference to discuss the biblical work of achieving a reconciled unity within the global racial and cultural diversity, what some call the work of shalom. But racial and multicultural issues must be seen as part of a whole host of spiritual and historical factors which challenge that work. This is important to understand, lest we allow Satan to divide and conquer us by falling into the trap of spending all our attention and energy simply trying to help "whites get right," while ignoring other issues that all colors, cultures, classes and genders must deal with. As a Christian Latino, I might be able to assert that I am not racist, but being a fallen human being living in North America can make me part of the problem in other ways. I believe that global Christianity is moving towards a crucial crossroads, challenged on a seemingly endless number of battle fronts concerning its credibility, unity and mission.

I am not forgetting or discounting the many loving and self-sacrificing contributions by Christians past and present. However, I would be doing us all a great disservice if I did not point out the enormous challenges ahead of us. Indeed, as I had been praying and preparing for this conference, I was plagued by a multitude of questions: "Lord," I would pray, "how am I going to address so many complex challenges? What can I possibly say that has not already been said? How can I avoid merely preaching to those who are already in the choir on the one hand, and annoying the rest by beating what some feel is a dead horse on the other? And while we're at it, how many different ways do we need to say the same thing before we will go to the bank, secure a loan, and buy a clue?"

Then one day, as I was watching the film, The Fellowship of the Ring, I had one of those moments of confirmation that come when prayer and a growing conviction collide with a seeming coincidence. "That's it, Lord!" I cried. "We need an awakening and sense of urgency of the magnitude experienced by the diverse Middle Earth races at the Council of Elrond that made them into the Fellowship of the Ring. Use me to do that.

It is my prayer, therefore, that Like the Fellowship of the Ring, God will awaken us here at this conference, and through us our Christian colleges and universities, to the biblical and historical urgency of joining the Fellowship of the Cross to answer the threats against the credibility and unity of Christianity and, thereby, its mission. None can escape these threats. Each race, each culture, each nation, each denomination is bound to heed the call for a more credible and unified Christianity. We are in a war. However, we need to understand that the enemy is not our fellow human beings, but our own sinful natures and the evil lord who exploits every opportunity which our selfishness and weaknesses provide.

Ultimately, this struggle can only be won by deeply converted, self-sacrificing and united servants of the Fellowship of the Cross from every tongue and nation on the earth, who understand that the Christian mission is to be a "blessing to all nations" by sharing the salvation of God through credible preaching, and the love of God by working for shalom.

Threats and Hindrances

This work will focus on threats and hindrances, but I will also hint toward solutions. This is only the beginning, a call, the first installment of a larger epic work for Christians everywhere.

Power & Self-Interests

One foundational threat comes in the form of two basic, interconnected expressions of fallen human nature: (1) the tendency toward self- and group-centeredness (self-interests for short), and (2) the quest for various forms of power and dominance in the context of real or imagined competition with others. These internal human weakness are masterfully played upon by our great external spiritual enemy, Satan. It should surprise no one to hear that the pursuit of power and self-interests is at the root of many problems in the world and is fundamentally unchristian. I want to explore how these factors hinder and threaten the credibility and unity of Christianity in the following areas: racism, contexts and wants, misuses of the Bible, and false universals.

Foundations of Race, Racism

To explore the power and self-interest foundations of race and racism, let us return briefly to The Fellowship of the Ring. We saw that while the first interracial alliance succeeded in defeating Sauron and cutting off the ring, Sauron began regaining victory by tempting the easily corruptible hearts of men with the lure of power and self-interests. I believe that Satan tempts our fallen human natures in exactly the same way. After all, Satan tempted Jesus precisely by the lure of self-interests and power: you're hungry, turn these stones to bread; I'll make you king of the world, just worship me.

Tolkien's story is powerfully reminiscent of a famous maxim by Lord John Acton, who although dead when Tolkien (1892-1973) was just 10 years old, was, like him, an Englishman, a Catholic and a well-known scholar. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." As a deeply committed Catholic, Lord Acton (1834-1902) believed that human beings are fallen, sin-prone creatures. As one of the greatest historians of the 19th century, he was convinced that human beings are fallen, sin-prone creatures. Theologically and historically, therefore, humans have proven time and again that we do not resist the lure and corruption of power very well. J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord Acton's sentiments concerning power are particularly relevant to the issues of race and racism.

It is important to understand first of all, that no racial view has ever arisen in a vacuum. There is no such thing as the creation of a racial attitude, claim or policy ex nihilo (out of nothing). All beliefs about race and, more importantly, the ends to which they are put are the constructions of human actors in a particular historical context, and in that a context, power and self-interest play most significant roles. This fact became glaringly apparent to me when, as part of another project, I began putting together an outline of the history of racism. That power issues are connected to race I already knew. What floored me was that it was so blatantly foundational to every historical example I found. I expected at least some sinful forms of corrupt power to be cleverly disguised, but I found them disgustingly obvious. I will first give a few non-Christian examples, then we will explore Christianity.

Ancient India

In the ancient Hindu text known as the Rig Veda, Indra, the god of the light-skinned Aryans is said to have "conquered the [people of] dusky [black] skin." Blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the black skin which Indra hates. (Rig Veda 1. 130:8; 73:5) Such a religious legacy was used to justify the cruel caste structures of Indian society, with whites generally on top, mixed races in the middle and the mass of darker-skinned peoples (Dalits and Dravidians) at the bottom. But the Aryans did not get their racism from the god Indra, Indra got it from the Aryans, in the historical context of the Indo-Aryan invasion of Northwestern India beginning around 1400 BC, and the brutal subjugation of the dark-skinned inhabitants.

Ancient China

According to race historian Thomas F. Gossett, during the Han Dynasty of the 3rd century B.C., Chinese historians claimed the existence of a barbarian people in a distant province who had yellow hair, green eyes and "greatly resemble monkeys from whom they are descended." How did such a people, if they existed at all, become so racially demonized? Perhaps a clue is offered in a legend which also existed at the time.

According to the legend, a Chinese emperor swore he would give his daughter in marriage to whoever would kill a hated insubordinate chieftain. To his astonishment, it was the palace dog that returned with the head of the enemy. Unwilling to break his oath, the emperor gave his daughter to the dog. The couple then moved to some remote mountains where they had children with the characteristics of both dogs and humans.

The Chinese example represents a combination of supernatural and nature-based explanations of race: a dog having supra-normal capabilities joins with a human female to produce a bastardized or inferior perversion of nature. However, as in the previous example of India, ancient Chinese racial prejudice and demonization are rooted in competition and power. An insubordinate chieftain earns the emperor's hatred resulting in a power struggle in which the chieftain is slain. But the cost is great. The emperor must give his daughter to a dog, resulting in a subhuman species.

Ancient Greeks and Romans

The ancient Greeks and Romans explained the physical and cultural differences between various peoples based on natural and other environmental factors, often with some divine will or purpose behind the scenes. Variations of this theme have been repeated throughout history by non-Christians and Christians alike.

Some of the most illustrious names of the ancient Greek and Roman world theorized, asserted and passed along rumor to this effect. Among the Greeks: Herodotus (c.483-c.425 BC) "father" of the craft of written history; Hippocrates (460-377 BC) founder of Western medicine; Plato (428-347) and Aristotle (384-322) titans of the Western philosophical tradition. Among the Romans: Cicero (c. 106-43 BC) the great orator-statesman; the historian Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79); Vitruvius (1st c. BC) engineer and historian of architecture; and Galen (AD 129-c.200) physician and "founder" of experimental physiology.

The great variations among the different peoples and civilizations which Greco-Roman writers heard about or encountered in the ancient world were believed to be the cause of climatic, geographical and other environmental factors: the prolonged blackening rays of the sun or the paling lack of it, heat or cold, dryness or dampness, the types, quantity and availability of vegetation and other foods, a climate of hardship or ease, the forms of culture, customs and the like.

Plato adds the element of the divine. He differentiated people using the analogy of rare and common metals. At birth God is said to have fitted some to rule (by mixing gold into their natures), and others to serve according to the declining value of their mixture (silver, bronze, brass, iron) in a sort of divine hierarchical determinism necessary in order to maintain the good and orderly society. (Republic 3.415) Plato's student Aristotle continues in this tradition when he says that some were born to rule and others were born "inferior" and fit to be slaves by nature. (Politics 1.4-5)

However, as we study Greek and Roman racial theories, once again we are not surprised to find the principles of power and self-interests. Note this quote from Aristotle, and listen for prejudiced value statements of the inferiority of the other, the superiority of his own Greek "race," and the blatant allusion to power and domination.

Those who live in a cold climate and in Europe are full of spirit, but wanting in intelligence and skill; and therefore they retain comparative freedom, but have no political organization, and are incapable of ruling over others. Whereas the natives of Asia are intelligent and inventive, but they are wanting in spirit, and therefore they are always in a state of subjection and slavery. But the Hellenic race, which is situated between them, is [both] high-spirited and also intelligent. Hence it continues free, and is the best-governed of any nation, and, if it could be formed into one state, would be able to rule the world. (Politics 7.7. Emphasis mine.)

Centuries later, the Roman Vitruvius is still echoing Aristotle. Though we are not surprised to find that Vitruvius exchanges Aristotle's Athenian superiority and will to power with that of Rome.

Since, then, nature herself has provided throughout the world, that all nations should differ according to the variation of the climate, she has also been pleased that in the middle of the earth, and of all nations, the Roman people should be seated.

On this account the people of Italy excel in both qualities, strength of body and vigor of mind. Divine providence has so ordered it that the metropolis of the Roman people is placed in an excellent and temperate climate, whereby they have become the masters of the world. [Emphases mine.]

As we can see from this tiny sampling, ancient Greco-Roman racial theories were not simply a religious or proto-scientific quest for truth or wisdom. They were not objective or value free, because, like many such racial constructions worldwide down through the centuries, they reveal motives rooted in the competition for power and dominance. For they explain not merely why the other is different, but why they are inferior, while at the same time justifying why their own race is superior and is, or should be, ruling the world.

The Early Christian Judaizers

When Christianity appears on the world scene, we are not surprised to find that one of the earliest challenges it faces comes precisely in the form of power and self- or group-interests. Among the earliest disciples of Jesus were a group of Jewish Christians who insisted that in order to be a Christian you must basically be a good Jew. Paul confronted these Judaizers, or false brethren—as he called them —who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage by insisting that Gentiles submit to and adopt Jewish customs such as circumcision and purification laws. (Gal 2: 4; 2: 11-14)

Charlemagne and Militant Missions

In the Middle Ages, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, set a new standard for what has since been known as "militant missions," forcing the pagan Saxons to convert to Christianity at the point of a sword or be destroyed. Charlemagne gave a whole new meaning to the notion of power evangelism, and it was a far cry from they way the early church engaged in evangelism and missions, for the church itself was a persecuted, minority faith.

The method of evangelism of the early church was by prayer, persuasion, spiritual power, and living example. We are not surprised at this, since, excluding divine intervention, historical context and worldview determine everthing, and the context and worldview of the early Christians were in sum: a group which as a whole had no economic, social or political power. In fact, they had no right to exist unless they were also willing to offer a sacrifice and say that Caesar is Lord. But perhaps most importantly, New Testament Christians believed that Jesus was returning soon. Therefore, to engage in power struggles over who was going to win the burning house was the pursuit of fools.

Indeed, given the human track record, one wonders if God allowed the church of Jesus Christ to be born in such powerless and unfavorable circumstances, from his sure knowledge that human beings, Christians or not, do not handle the lure of power very well. A Christianity born of political power would have produced a church and a New Testament far different from what did emerge. For proof of this all we need do is return to the case of the Judaizers within earliest Christianity, as well as to explore the profound changes that come upon Christianity as it becomes increasingly connected to power and worldly concerns, beginning with the first Christian emperor, Constantine (AD 312-37), leading up to the time when a Charlemagne thinks nothing of wedding the sword to the cross and is seen as champion of the faith for it.

However sincere Charlemagne and others like him throughout history may have been, it is undeniable that Cross and Sword evangelism was not the method of Jesus and his earliest disciples, and indeed could not have been.

Christianity in the New World

The European brand of Cross and Sword in the New World would leave a legacy of death, slavery and racism from which we are still trying extricate ourselves today. Thankfully, however, not all Christians have bowed the knee to power and self-interests. For even as Christianity spread around the world as the handmaiden of imperial conquest, it was also a relatively small number of deeply converted and self-sacrificing servants of the Cross who sought to bring a more credible Christianity of redemption, peace and justice.

During the early 16th century, the Spanish conquistador Bartolom de Las Casas (1474-1566) was an encomendero, having been entrusted (encomendado), for his part in the conquests of the West Indies, with lands stolen from the Indians and the right to extract labor from them as a form of tribute. Thus far he was a typical Cross and Sword Christian from Europe, attracted to the New World by the promise of lands, wealth, fame and power, as well as a chance to save the heathen for Christ.

But Las Casas became untypical when Christian principles collided head on with the monstrous practices his countrymen were committing upon the Indians. He gave up his encomiendas, his stolen lands and Indians, and as a Dominican monk he devoted the rest of his life to pursuing justice on behalf of the cruelly exploited Indians. He even came to reject African slavery when its acceptance was virtually universal, both in and out of the Church. Out of Christian love for the Indians, and a concern that the discredit that his fellow Spaniards were bringing upon the Gospel would bring the judgment of God, Las Casas recorded what he called "the destruction of the Indies."

The reason the Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed. They have set out to line their pockets with gold and to amass private fortunes as quickly as possible so that they can then assume a status quite at odds with that into which they were born. Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds. (13; cf., 96)

[and they] would attack and rob the Devil himself if he had gold about his person. (109-10)

It is my considered opinion that the greatest obstacle that stands in the way of the conversion of the [native] people to Christ, is the harshness and cruelty of the treatment meted out by "Christians" to those who surrender [i.e., the conquered Indians]. This has been so harsh and so brutal that nothing is more odious nor more terrifying to the people than the name "Christian," a word for which they use in their language the term yares, which means "demons." (82)

The many efforts of Las Casas, while largely unappreciated and resisted in his day, did result in the 1542 New Laws of the Indies, which attempted to curb the abuses of slavery and what Las Casas called "war for gain." To this day, however, Las Casas, a white Christian from Europe, is associated with the beginning of the movement for human rights, and a gospel that rejects the separation of spiritual salvation from here and now justice.

So far I have discussed the discredit and disunity to Christianity brought on by the misguided or corrupt use of power and self-interests usually connected to white European and Euro-American imperialism, slavery and racism. But there are ways that all colors, cultures, classes and genders living in North America, as elsewhere, can hinder the work toward a credible and unified Christianity.

Failure to Analyze Honestly Our Contexts & Wants

Intimately connected to the influence of power and self-interests, another major hindrance is our failure to analyze HONESTLY how our own contexts and wants effect our views and behaviors. Cultural and historical contexts and personal wants shape and determine your whole world view, of which religion—dare I say it—may be only a part: how large a part you can determine, not by asking what ideals your life should be based on, but by honestly analyzing what takes up most of your time, thoughts, motives, goals, dreams, energies, worries, concerns, plans, opinions, conversation, complaints, leisure and so on. The point is to discover the differences between your ideals and your reality. The Medieval mystics understood very well the importance of this kind of deliberate, recorded, accountable self-analysis in order to conquer the sinful self and submit wholly to Christ. Failure to analyze honestly our contexts and wants has produced a brand of North American Christianity that at times seems all but clueless as to which part is North American and which part is Christian.

Do you think, for example, that your Christianity has been affected by living in a nation which makes up only about 5% of the world's population, yet consumes some 40% of the world's resources? Do you think your Christianity has been affected by living in a place where the "American dream" has been turned into a rarely questioned assumption of making wealth without limit and consuming goods and resources without limit, and that this dream is within the reach of anyone willing to work for it? In short, do you think that your Christianity, your theology, your God have been affected by living in a nation that can pour out power like so much cream into coffee, and leave the tap of hot and cold-running affluence running perpetually, and that all of this is now almost a natural right?

Granted, our racialized society has made the "American dream" easier for light-skinned people than for people of color, especially for black people, and this does concern us. But I am also concerned that even marginalized people struggling for equality and diversity in unity may not be completely clear on what the whole purpose of equality and unity is for. It is not, I believe, simply so that we can all have our piece of the American Dream.

The mission of the church is to be a blessing to all nations by sharing the salvation of God through credible preaching, and the love of God by working for shalom, and that will mean in the nature of things, that I am in the business of seeking how I can give, not how I can get. After all, I am claiming to follow he who had no place to lay his head (Mt 8:20), and whose very life was sacrifice. Perhaps I can further illustrate this principle of contexts and wants by looking at yet another hindrance to a credible and unified Christianity. Consider the misuses of the Bible.

Misuses of the Bible: Texts of Terror and Texts that Humanize

There is a well-known sermon illustration about a very distraught Christian who in a moment of desperation for a word from God on a matter of great importance, began flipping through the pages of his Bible. In Bible roulette fashion he determined to close his eyes, stop flipping, place his finger on the page, and whatever he found would be God's word of guidance for him. But when he opened his eyes, he read, "...and Judas went and hung himself." (Mt 27:5) Failing to learn his lesson, he decided to go for one out of two, and began flipping again. But this time he read: "Go thou and do likewise." (Lk 10:37) He finally gave up, because neither of those could possibly have been God's guidance.

This is my point. It has often been said that the Bible is the most used book in the world. But I would argue that it may well be one of the most misused or abused books in the world. And it is misused in precisely this way: that we gravitate toward and choose what I call "biblical texts that humanize" when the contexts and wants are in reference to ourselves and persons and things dear to us.

On the other hand, historical and cultural contexts and personal wants are precisely why Christians can pick "biblical texts of terror" in violation of the plain and universal royal law of love, in order to do to others what we would never want done to us: slavery, racism, war for gain, gender discrimination, and countless other forms of exclusion and domination. "Slaves, obey your masters..." (Eph 6:5; Col 3:22; 1Tm 6:1), "Women, be silent" (1Cor 14:34), "Women, submit to men" (1Tim 2:12), "Obey those in authority" (Rom 13:1-2; 1Pet 2:13), which just happens to be u, "Go and conquer in the name of God, for He has given you the land" (Num 32:7; De 3:18; Josh 1:11; 6:16). There are Bible passages for every kind of power abuse or atrocity imaginable. But just because it's in the Bible, does not make it biblical.

Biblical is what we are happily and consistently willing to apply to all people, just as much as if we were applying it to ourselves. The observant will have noticed that this is nothing but another version of the royal law of love of Jesus Christ found in Matthew 7:12: "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, this is how you must treat them, for this sums up all the Law and the Prophets."

Creating Universals Where Christ Made None

Based on the royal law of love, therefore, I insist that there are far fewer universals in the Bible than most Christians assume. How does this relate to our topic? Failure to understand what is truly "biblical," what is truly "universal," is yet another hindrance to achieving diversity in unity. Creating universals where Christ made none.

The more I study, mediate and pray, the more I have come to believe that we Christians have the pernicious habit of creating universals at the drop of a hat. I believe this is in part another expression of power and self-interests, contexts and wants. When I ask people to define "universal" for me, I generally get loose definitions like "truth," or something that is right, always true, or absolute. In the attempt to move away from these abstracts, I ask, "Give me some examples of Christian universals." Here we begin to make a little more progress. But lack of a coherent definition of universal makes picking consistent examples quite challenging. Yet, how often have I heard talk of promoting reconciliation and diversity in unity among Christian churches and colleges, with no discussion on how many false universals we may have created that hinder those goals?

A universal is something that is applicable in every time and place and unforeseeable circumstance. Most people who listen to my definition usually don't have any trouble with the criteria, every time and place. Every unforeseeable circumstance forces them to have to think a bit, because that's really reaching into the unknown in ways that we might later be proven wrong. (Think, Galileo, for example.) And that, I say, is precisely the point of my definition. It must cover the unexpected, or by definition it is not a universal. If extraterrestrial beings from a galaxy billions of light years way came to earth, with a culture vastly different from ours, and technology that made them appear as gods, our Christian universals better apply to them, or by nature they are only earthly, or only North American, or only white, middle-class, or black or male or Baptist.

When you start to look at Christian universals in this way, you begin to realize that maybe there are fewer of them than we have been insisting all Christians everywhere submit to, or maybe we should at least give the matter serious thought and take a pause from grinding them out like sausages. When I meditate on universals in this way, it makes perfect sense to me why Jesus actually gave us so few of them. We can hardly handle one, he's going to give hundreds or even thousands (which is what you would think by looking at the vastly fractured state of Christianity around he world)?

Can anyone shout out what you think is the greatest universal in the Bible (in relation to faith and behavior)? This should be easy. What did Jesus say is the greatest commandment?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. (Mt 22:39-40; Mk12:33; Lk 10:27; cf., Lev 19:18; De 6:5)

The greatest commandment is a universal according to Jesus himself. Another universal that flows naturally from the first commandment is the royal law to love and treat others the way you want them to treat you (Mt 7:12), not just people like you, but those different from you (Lk 10:25-37), even your enemies (Mt 5:43-44).

Here we begin to approach some foundations for a credible and united Christianity. Here are some things that we can all agree on, we must agree on, because they are universals: I must love God, and (as proof that I love God) I must love you. And I must love without showing any partiality or favoritism, because James (2:8-10) tells us that if I keep the whole Law and sin on this one point, I have automatically become guilty of sinning against the whole law. This makes sense. After all, if keeping the two greatest universals is essentially keeping all the Law and Prophets, then not keeping them is breaking all the Law and Prophets.

This should give Christians serious pause. Think about it. To the extent that we are not doing our part in loving the "other," in achieving a diversity in unity (at least within our own sphere of daily life), is proof that we are in constant violation of the royal law of love and are convicted as transgressors of the whole law, because Jesus said that "this sums up all the Law and Prophets." As Protestant evangelicals, some of us might be tempted to think that we can retreat to the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, that we are no longer under law but under grace. But the logic here is so poor as to almost warrant no response. Are we really prepared to defend ourselves before God for setting up his salvation by grace to do battle against his royal law of love?

Now perhaps you begin to sense the urgency with which I began my message. Diversity in unity is not something we can ignore, or take a gradualist approach to, or resist for fear of what we will have give up for it. Is what we would give up a universal on par with Mt 7:12?

An Urgent Call for a More Credible and United Christianity

This address has attempted to reveal serious threats to the credibility and unity of Christianity and its mission. We looked at how the corrupting lure of power and self-interests are key foundations stones upon which constructions of race, racialized societies, and other forms of domination have been built. However, while abolishing racism—as an expression of fallen human nature usually associated with whites—is a central feature in the work of shalom, I have also tried to point out that there are other threats and hindrances to the credibility and unity of Christianity to which all colors, genders, classes, and cultures can and do contribute.

We saw, for example, that despite notable exceptions like Bartolom de Las Casas, many of us simply do not know the extent to which our Christianity can be more like the world than like Christ, for lack of an honest appraisal of our contexts and wants. We have also looked at other hindrances such as the misuses of the Bible and the creation of universals where Christ made none. But we also saw that just as false universals are needlessly divisive, so true universals like the royal law of love are powerful unifiers. Indeed, if the pursuit of self-love and earthly power is at the root of so many manifestations of exclusion, domination and division, then might not a concentrated effort to fame our lives, institutions and reconciliation work around the two greatest Christian universals be the most sound foundation upon to build embrace, liberty and a diversity in unity?

Like the Council of Elrond, I have attempted a little reality therapy. Challenges to diversity in unity seem only to be growing in some sectors of the world. The research by Emerson and Smith and others show that the black and white divide in the U.S. is just as bad, if not worse, among evangelical Christians as it is among non-Christians. In a recent article titled "The Next Christianity," author Philip Jenkins traces the growing cultural and religious gap between Christians in the more developed nations of the global north and Christians in less developed and struggling regions of the global south, and then declares: "The twenty-first century will almost certainly be regarded by future historians as a century in which religion replaced ideology as the prime animating and destructive force in human affairs."

Christianity is moving towards a crossroads, challenged on a seemingly endless number of battle fronts concerning its credibility, unity and its mission to be a blessing to all nations. I conclude therefore, where I began.

Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate.— Elrond, elf-king of Rivendell Like the Fellowship of the Ring, we of the Fellowship of the Cross have an urgent call to answer. I have tried to suggest a ure, "universal" base from which to begin our journey and check its progress. However, if the task of achieving a reconciled and just unity within the global diversity still seems overwhelming, it might be well to remember three other unshakable truths, against which no Sauron or Satan has any power.

The first, is that Jesus has already prayed for our unity:

Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one. I do not ask in behalf of these [disciples] alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in US; that the world may know that You did send Me. And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that You did send Me, and did love them, even as you loved me. (John 17:11, 20-24) (Emphases mine.)

The second unshakable truth is that Jesus' death on the Cross has already defeated Satan and already drawn us together at the Cross, by virtue of the fact that Jesus took the penalty that we all deserve, no matter our color, class or culture.

Now is the judgment come upon this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself. (John 12: 31-32)

A third unshakable truth, that should give us great hope, is found in the last book of the Bible. Revelation gives us a glimpse of heaven itself, and lo and behold it is already a reconciled and just unity within the global diversity.

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Rev 7: 9-10).

Who will join the Fellowship of the Cross and journey toward that glorious heavenly unity?