Living in the Shadow of the Cross: Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony

by Paul Kivel

Overview

How our dominant Christian worldview shapes everything from personal behavior to public policy (and what to do about it)

Over the centuries, Christianity has accomplished much which is deserving of praise. Its institutions have fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, and advocated for the poor. Christian faith has sustained people through crisis and inspired many to work for social justice.

Yet although the word "Christian" connotes the epitome of goodness, the actual story is much more complex. Over the last two millennia, ruling elites have used Christian institutions and values to control those less privileged throughout the world. The doctrine of Christianity has been interpreted to justify the killing of millions, and its leaders have used their faith to sanction participation in colonialism, slavery, and genocide. In the Western world, Christian influence has inspired legislators to continue to limit women's reproductive rights and has kept lesbians and gays on the margins of society.

As our triple crises of war, financial meltdown, and environmental destruction intensify, it is imperative that we dig beneath the surface of Christianity's benign reputation to examine its contribution to our social problems. Living in the Shadow of the Cross reveals the ongoing, everyday impact of Christian power and privilege on our beliefs, behaviors, and public policy, and emphasizes the potential for people to come together to resist domination and build and sustain communities of justice and peace.

Paul Kivel is the award-winning author of Uprooting Racism and the director of the Christian Hegemony Project. He is a social justice activist and educator who has focused on the issues of violence prevention, oppression, and social justice for over forty-five years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550925418
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	308
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Paul Kivel is the award-winning author of Uprooting Racism and the director of the Christian Hegemony Project. He is a social justice activist and educator who has focused on the issues of violence prevention, oppression, and social justice for over 45 years.

Paul Kivel: has been a social justice activist, a nationally and internationally recognized anti-racism educator and an innovative leader in violence prevention for over 40 years. He is an award-winning author and an accomplished trainer and speaker, and has conducted thousands of talks, trainings, and workshops on diversity, men's issues, the challenges of youth, and the impact of class and power on daily life.
 

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. What Is Christian Hegemony?

2. Manifestations of Christian Hegemony
Language
Names
Symbols
Original Christians
The Other
Credibility
Exotic and Erotic
Privilege
Christian Holiday Cycle
New Year's Eve
Washington's Birthday/Presidents' Day
St. Valentine's Day
Good Friday/Easter
Mother's Day
Independence Day/The Fourth of July
Columbus Day
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Christmas

3. Key Christian Concepts
Dualism
Qualities
The Cosmic Battle: Good and Evil
Love Within Hierarchy
Sinners Need Salvation
One Truth, One Way to God
Temporal Focus
Dominion Over Nature
Challenging Dominant Concepts

4. The Way We Think
Our Bodies and Feelings Are Sinful
Judgment
Salvation
Purity
Christian Narratives
Conversion Narrative
The Jeremiad
Captivity Narrative
We Need a Savior
Charity
History
Apocalypse
Fear and Hope
Science and Technology
The Economy
The Criminal Legal System
Education
The Body, Desire and Disability
Doctrine of Discovery
How Do These Christian Ideas Manifest in Our Lives?

5. Origins and History
The Papal Reformation
The Crusades
The Inquisitions
Witch Hunts
The Protestant Reformation
Colonization: Crusades in the New World
Missionaries Spreading the Word
Manifest Destiny
Slavery and Its Legacy
The Jewish Holocaust

6. Public Policy
US Foreign Policy
Us and Them
Manifest Destiny and War
International Influence
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) and Faith-based Funding
Christian Zionism
US Domestic Policy
Political Involvement
Worker's Rights
Religious Immunity from Prosecution
Tax Breaks
Faith-based Initiatives
Proselytizing
Islamophobia as Public Policy
Health Care
Abstinence vs Harm Reduction
The War Against Women
Marriage
Domestic Violence
Parenting
Education
Environmental Issues
Seeing Through and Beyond Christian Frameworks

7. Resistance
Christian Resistance
Resistance Outside of Christianity
Talking About Christian Hegemony
Allies, Collaborators and Agents
For the Long Haul

Appendix: Guidelines for Christian Allies
Glossary
Endnotes
Bibliography
Resources on Christian Hegemony and Resistance

Index
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

" Living in the Shadow of the Cross is a powerful, compassionate, yet challenging piece of work. This is a must read for anyone who is committed to social justice and ameliorating oppression. As a Pastor in the Christian church, I initially wanted to explain away or make excuses, but Paul offers a perspective that feels very familiar to me as one who has felt the impact of White Supremacy and patriarchy."
— Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, Assistant Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore, and Founding Faculty, Social Justice Training Institute

" Living in the Shadow of the Cross serves as a reminder of why the United States is not a Christian Nation and never was. Kivel illustrates why no religion should attempt to cram the First Amendment into an exclusionary theological straightjacket. Disturbing yet necessary truth-telling for those of us who are Christian or who follow any religious belief system."
— Chip Berlet, investigative reporter, scholar and co-author, Right-Wing Populism in America

"As a white Christian woman who has spent her life attempting to understand white privilege and white supremacy and to make change, Paul Kivel has upped my ante of personal work and understanding. Christian hegemony is an essential piece in the puzzle of systemic domination. What a gift!"
— Frances E. Kendall, author Understanding White Privilege

"We need this book. Living in the Shadow of the Cross helps us understand the many ways that ruling classes historically and today use Christianity to justify, implement and even celebrate, colonization, exploitation and oppression. Working for liberation requires us to decolonize our minds from the logic of the oppressor so that we can generate logics of liberation from which to create, live, love, and act from. Decolonize your heart, mind and soul, and study this book."
— Chris Crass, author, Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-racist organizing, feminist praxis and movement-building strategy

"After more than 200 years, a book has finally emerged that validates Thomas Paine's concerns about Christian hegemony. Living in the Shadow of the Cross shows readers of all faiths how the ruling elite turned a doctrine of love into a doctrine of discovery that has ultimately kept us from embracing the spiritual wisdom of Indigenous cultures that Paine and other founding fathers of the U.S. saw as incompatible with Christian orthodoxy. This book is a must-read if we are to break through the illusions that continue to keep our collective heads in the hegemonic sands that are contained by Christian seas. Our very survival may require such an awakening as Kivel offers here."
— Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D.), author, Teaching Truly, Primal Awareness and Unlearning the Language of Conquest.

"With Living in the Shadow of the Cross , Paul Kivel once again sets a high standard for investigating and making visible dominant group privilege, power, control, and domination, which are pervasive and deeply entrenched. By coming into the topic from multiple perspectives – historical, theological and philosophical, economic and political – Kivel exposes how the Christian cross has not merely cast a shadow across the globe, but more importantly, how it has operated like a coercive hammer (a weapon) in several spheres resulting in colonization, forced conversions, confiscations of property and resources, territorial expulsions, and, ultimately, to genocide. Living in the Shadow of the Cross puts to rest lingering false impressions and long-standing justifications for a supposed "naturalness" and "normalcy" of Christian hegemony."
— Warren J. Blumenfeld, co-editor, Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States , and Associate Professor, School of Education, Iowa State University

"Paul Kivel courageously confronts Christian hegemony by addressing historical and present-day realities that few are willing and able to openly challenge. With careful detail, Kivel clearly delineates distinctions between systems of oppression and Christians who resist dominance due to their deep commitments to social justice and liberation. Moreover, he gives voice to those of us who are outside of the Christian religion and consistently subject to Christian hegemony by highlighting how we are forced to navigate realities that dramatically shape and impact our daily lives."
— Amer F. Ahmed, educator, social justice activist, poet

"You may not realize it, but this is the book you have been waiting for! In the growing field of Privilege Studies, religious privilege has been under-examined. In his characteristically accessible style, Kivel provides us with a nuanced yet comprehensive volume that fills this gap. This will be an indispensable resource and teaching tool for anyone seeking to understand privilege, and the ways that religion intersects with race, class and gender studies."
— Abby L. Ferber, Director of The Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion, and Professor of Sociology and Women's & Ethnic Studies at Universityof Colorado, Colorado Springs.

"Paul Kivel's deep and detailed analyses of Christian assumptions are both appalling and empowering. They name the historical and ideological problems that most students of oppression in the last 150 years have simply avoided. For me, Paul Kivel opens up whole new territories of pain, but shows that those of us who were raised in Christian traditions can lessen institutional Christian oppressiveness without disowning the soul itself and all the spiritual impulses that go into what Paul Tillich called "the ground of our being"."
— Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director, Wellesley Centers for Women and Founding Director, National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum.

"Paul Kivel has done it again; awakened us to a system of dominance that has been invisible for centuries. I found myself defending Christianity and arguing its "goodness;" seeing its dominance revealed by Kivel but still denying its hegemonic impact on the world. The success of this book will not be measured by one's agreement or disagreement but rather the degree to which it helps change the discourse about Christian power and dominance. Can we be open-minded enough to engage in deep discourse and ultimately change the dominant paradigm and structures that lead to power and privilege?"
— Hugh Vasquez, social justice educator and Senior Associate at the National Equity Project

Editorial Reviews

Living in the Shadow of the Cross is a powerful, compassionate, yet challenging piece of work. This is a must read for anyone who is committed to social justice and ameliorating oppression. As a Pastor in the Christian church, I initially wanted to explain away or make excuses, but Paul offers a perspective that feels very familiar to me as one who has felt the impact of White Supremacy and patriarchy.
—Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, Assistant Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore, and Founding Faculty, Social Justice Training Institute

Living in the Shadow of the Cross serves as a reminder of why the United States is not a Christian Nation and never was. Kivel illustrates why no religion should attempt to cram the First Amendment into an exclusionary theological straightjacket. Disturbing yet necessary truth-telling for those of us who are Christian or who follow any religious belief system.
—Chip Berlet, investigative reporter, scholar and co-author, Right-Wing Populism in America

As a white Christian woman who has spent her life attempting to understand white privilege and white supremacy and to make change, Paul Kivel has upped my ante of personal work and understanding. Christian hegemony is an essential piece in the puzzle of systemic domination. What a gift!
— Frances E. Kendall, author Understanding White Privilege

We need this book. Living In the Shadow of the Cross helps us understand the many ways that ruling classes historically and today use Christianity to justify, implement and even celebrate, colonization, exploitation and oppression. Working for liberation requires us to decolonize our minds for the logic of the oppressor so that we can generate logics of liberation from which to create, live, love, and act from. Decolonize your heart, mind and soul, and study this book.”
—Chris Crass, author, Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-racist organizing, feminist praxis and movement-building strategy

You may not realize it, but this is the book you have been waiting for! In the growing field of Privilege Studies, religious privilege has been under-examined. In his characteristically accessible style, Kivel provides us with a nuanced yet comprehensive volume that fills this gap. This will be an indispensable resource and teaching tool for anyone seeking to understand privilege, and the ways that religion intersects with race, class and gender studies.
—Abby L. Ferber, Director of The Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion, and Professor of Sociology and Women's & Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

After more than 200 years, a book has finally emerged that validates Thomas Paine's concerns about Christian hegemony. Living in the Shadow of the Cross shows readers of all faiths how the ruling elite turned a doctrine of love into a doctrine of discovery that has ultimately kept us from embracing the spiritual wisdom of Indigenous cultures that Paine and other founding fathers of the U.S. saw as incompatible with Christian orthodoxy. This book is a must-read if we are to break through the illusions that continue to keep our collective heads in the hegemonic sands that are contained by Christian seas. Our very survival may require such an awakening as Kivel offers here.
—Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D.), author, Teaching Truly, Primal Awareness and Unlearning the Language of Conquest.

With Living in the Shadow of the Cross, Paul Kivel once again sets a high standard for investigating and making visible dominant group privilege, power, control, and domination, which are pervasive and deeply entrenched. By coming into the topic from multiple perspectives – historical, theological and philosophical, economic and political – Kivel exposes how the Christian cross has not merely cast a shadow across the globe, but more importantly, how it has operated like a coercive hammer (a weapon) in several spheres resulting in colonization, forced conversions, confiscations of property and resources, territorial expulsions, and, ultimately, to genocide. Living in the Shadow of the Cross puts to rest lingering false impressions and long-standing justifications for a supposed “naturalness” and “normalcy” of Christian hegemony.
—Warren J. Blumenfeld, co-editor, Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States, and Associate Professor, School of Education, Iowa State University

Paul Kivel courageously confronts Christian hegemony by addressing historical and present-day realities that few are willing and able to openly challenge. With careful detail, Kivel clearly delineates distinctions between systems of oppression and Christians who resist dominance due to their deep commitments to social justice and liberation. Moreover, he gives voice to those of us who are outside of the Christian religion and consistently subject to Christian hegemony by highlighting how we are forced to navigate realities that dramatically shape and impact our daily lives."
—Amer F. Ahmed, educator, social justice activist, poet

I am grateful to Paul Kivel for his deep and detailed analyses of Christian assumptions and the actions they have produced. His analyses are both appalling and empowering. They name the historical and ideological problems that most students of oppression in the last 150 years have simply avoided. For me, Paul Kivel opens up whole new territories of pain, but shows that those of us who were raised in Christian traditions can lessen institutional Christian oppressiveness without disowning the soul itself and all the spiritual impulses that go into what Paul Tillich called "the ground of our being”
—Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director, Wellesley Centers for Women and Founding Director, National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum.

Paul Kivel has done it again; awakened us to a system of dominance that has been invisible for centuries. I found myself defending Christianity and arguing its “goodness;” seeing its dominance revealed by Kivel but still denying its hegemonic impact on the world. The success of this book will not be measured by one’s agreement or disagreement but rather the degree to which it helps change the discourse about Christian power and dominance. Can we be open-minded enough to engage in deep discourse and ultimately change the dominant paradigm and structures that lead to power and privilege?
— Hugh Vasquez, social justice educator and Senior Associate at the National Equity Project

From the Publisher