This previous book of the semester, Tanner Colby’s Some of My Best Friends Are Black, has sparked some thoughtful questions such as “Just how diverse is Calvin Theological Seminary?” “What are some misconceptions about diversity?” And lastly, “Are we as students burned out from talking/thinking about diversity and social justice?” I would like to say that Calvin Theological Seminary students are tired and burned out from academic work, not from moving out in grace to address diversity and social justice. In this editor’s opinion, diversity and social justice are very important to Calvin Theological Seminary. This is an urgent point to be made in an age when people are losing their grasp of Christian theology and becoming cold and apathetic. As students of Reformed Theology we must proclaim in our institutions of learning and worship, as well as outside them, that we consider the goal of studying theology to empower Christians to bring about the betterment of all, not a few. To leave theology simply to the realm of study without any spiritual movement happening is ignoring why we are theologians. Making theology only an academic discipline promotes seeing of God as we want to rather than he truly is. This is resisting the movement of the Holy Spirit.
To be clear moving forward from the events of police brutality in 2014, diversity and integration are important to Calvin Theological Seminary. We must continue to grow in this area, because ignoring social justice and racial reconciliation really does leave Abraham Kuyper’s theology of engaging every sphere of life stunted. This is one reason the Christian Reformed Church should be invested in racial reconciliation, so there is clear missional engagement of urban areas and rural areas, so when we bring the gospel it will also bring healing for people who hurt from racial injustice. I believe that one of the areas where the church has missed the mark is allowing the phenomenon of “white flight” from urban to suburban areas to go unaddressed. To love your neighbor as yourself does not mean hate people in the city, and love those in close proximity. It means to love everyone as God has loved you.
By Ronald Hunsucker