Racial Habitus, Resurrection, and Moral Imagination
Racism remains a moral and social conundrum in North America. This paper contributes a teleological response to the specter of racism by arguing that Christ’s resurrection and its power to influence people’s moral imagination offers a powerful means of dislodging racial habitus. This argument flows...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Journal of Moral Theology, Inc.
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Moral Theology |
| Online Access: | https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/31673-racial-habitus-resurrection-and-moral-imagination |
| Summary: | Racism remains a moral and social conundrum in North America. This paper contributes a teleological response to the specter of racism by arguing that Christ’s resurrection and its power to influence people’s moral imagination offers a powerful means of dislodging racial habitus. This argument flows from the proposition that the resurrection of Christ transforms the subjective interpretation of cultural differences into an objective one, engages racial habitus at its core, penetrates structures of injustice, and emboldens people to work towards racial justice. It proposes three ways the resurrection can address racial habitus. First, the relationship between resurrection and forgiveness challenges the Church and her members to acknowledge their involvement in fomenting racism and whiteness. Second, the resurrection forms dispositions and habits of justice that invite a response towards mitigating structural injustice. Lastly, the Church should draw on moral imagination grounded in the Eucharist to form its members in the dichotomy between the Eucharist and racial habitus and challenge assumptions and structures that legitimize racism. |
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| ISSN: | 2166-2851 2166-2118 |