Reimagining Justice, Capitalism, and Racial Power Through a Kingdom Lens - w/ Dr. Timothy Gombis

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2020

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How the radical intertwining of critical race theory, biblical economics, and systemic sin challenges modern Christian assumptions around capitalism, race, and justice. Continuing their Exile Series, Mike Erre and Tim Stafford welcome back theologian Timothy Gombis to explore how the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the Old Testament offer a countercultural vision for economic and social life rooted in repentance, restoration, and community.

From the Lord's Prayer's plea to "forgive debts" to Paul's vision of a just and unified humanity under Christ, this episode uncovers how deeply Christianity has been co-opted by capitalist ideology, individualism, and white supremacy—and what it might look like to reclaim the Jesus way in the public, economic, and racial spheres of our society.

Key Takeaways: • Critical Race Theory and the Gospel – Understanding CRT as a biblical tool to help Christians identify and dismantle racism baked into culture, law, and power—not as a political threat, but as an opportunity for justice and transformation. • Jubilee Economics vs. Capitalism – Exploring how God's economy of debt forgiveness, land redistribution, and care for the poor clashes with modern capitalist assumptions about profit, property, and merit. • Why Individualism Fails – How evangelicalism's overemphasis on individual sin blinds us to the powers and systemic evil Paul confronts in his letters. • God's Preferential Focus – Learning to emulate a God who listens to the oppressed and acts for their liberation—and recognizing that justice, not comfort, is the call of Christian discipleship. • What Discipleship Really Costs – Why following Jesus must mean unlearning inherited racial, economic, and theological assumptions, and how it might reshape our church budgets, politics, and personal lives.

Guest Highlights: Timothy Gombis – Bible scholar, professor, and host of the "Faith Improvised" podcast, Gombis offers a prophetic yet humble perspective on race, economics, and Christian complicity in injustice. With his upcoming commentary on the gospel of Mark and a lifelong journey of being "a student in process," Gombis models how to wrestle faithfully with scripture and the systems we live in.

Resources Mentioned: • Faith Improvised Podcast – Hosted by Timothy Gombis • Book: "Resurrecting Justice" by Douglas Harink • Robert P. Jones – "White Too Long" • Matthew 25:31–46 – The call to justice as criteria for the final judgment • Deuteronomy 15 – Jubilee and debt forgiveness • Kevin Kruse – "One Nation Under God"

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Vox podcast. Mike, Erie, and Timothy John Stafford are here. Welcome to the show. Timothy, how...
0:09.2	You were thinking about your last name for a second. Like, you weren't quite sure. You're like, Mike. Yeah. Yeah, it's just not as cool as Timothy, John Stafford. That whole thing rolls together. Michael Carl Erie just doesn't sound as cool.
0:22.7	So I was just debating whether or not even to get into that. Bonnie Gail Lewis, that's the
0:27.6	rolls off the tongue as well. Timothy George Gombus. I like Erie. I'll trade you. Yeah?
0:34.5	We learned that today. Today, ladies and gentlemen, oh, have we got a doozy?
0:40.7	But before we get to that, I want to thank Grant, Lindsay, Sam, and Amanda for joining
0:48.4	us on Patreon.
0:50.8	It is unbelievably gracious and generous. The number of people who come and who help carry
0:58.0	this whole thing forward. And so we're so grateful for that. Patreon.com Vox Podcast with Mike Erie
1:05.4	or you can go to Voxpodcast.com. And there you have Tively or Patreon, two different ways to give. And it's all tax
1:13.4	deductible. But my word, we have a show for you today. So Timothy raised a question after our last
1:22.1	sermon on the Mount podcast, where I was kind of riffing a little bit on the idea when when Jesus says,
1:28.3	forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And, and I was commenting that the Greek
1:34.3	word there doesn't just mean sin. It means debts, like literal economic debts. And offline, he said, hey, we should, we should explore that a little bit.
1:47.8	So we roped in our favorite, well, one of our favorite theologians, Timothy Gombus,
1:54.9	to talk about capitalism, economic justice, and critical race theory and how all of those things fit together.
2:05.4	And holy...
2:06.4	Your normal Thanksgiving dinner topics.
2:08.2	Yes. Oh, my goodness. And holy moly, I think I had to ask maybe three or four questions.
2:18.9	And we filled up an hour.
2:24.4	It's such challenging stuff.
2:28.0	And, you know, I still have to process.
	...

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