Ibram X. Kendi: Antiracists Fundamentally Reject ‘Savior Theology’ And Embrace Liberation Theology

Three months ago, Ibram X. Kendi, author of the NYT best seller How to be an Anti-racist and one of the most media-celebrated and rabidly progressive thinkers today, announced that he brought on none other than Jemar Tisby of The Witness Black Christian Collective to be the Assistant Director of Narrative and Advocacy at the Center for Antiracist Research, based out of Boston University. This demonstrates the depths that Tisby has descended into.

Now, in a discussion at Manhattan’s Judson Memorial Church, Kendi explains that it’s liberation theology that works within his framework of anti-racists messaging, and not the biblical, scriptural ‘savior theology.’

When questioned by an audience member over to what degree or role churches can play in this antiracist movement, he responds:

IBRAM X. KENDI: So, yeah, I’m a preacher’s kid. And my parents pretty much met in what was known as the Black Power movement. But more specifically for them, the movement for black theology. And so they were both Christians who imagined that the church was supposed to be an engine of liberation, that Christianity was supposed to be a source of liberation for black people and humanity. They looked at Jesus as black, who had a ‘fro like they had their ‘fros. And what I sort of ultimately realized in analyzing the form of Christianity that they were raised in, particularly during the black theology movement and, I should say, contrasting that with the form of Christianity that 80% of white evangelicals had when they voted for Donald Trump.

I think one of the ways we can distinguish it is one being liberation theology. In other words, Jesus was a revolutionary and the job of the Christian is to revolutionize society. That the job of the Christian is to liberate society from the powers on earth that are oppressing humanity. Everybody understand that? So that’s liberation theology in a nutshell.

Savior theology is a different type of theology. The job of the Christian is to go out and save these individuals who are behaviorally deficient. In other words, we’re to bring them into the church, these individuals who are doing all of these evil, sinful things and heal them and save them. And then once we’ve saved them, we’ve done our jobs. And to me, antiracists fundamentally reject savior theology.

That goes right in line with racist ideas and racist theology, in which they say, “You know what, black people, other racial groups, the reason why they’re struggling on earth is because of what they’re behaviorally doing wrong, and it is my job as the pastor to sort of say these wayward black people or wayward poor people or wayward queer people.” That type of theology breeds bigotry.

And so to me, the type of theology of liberation theology breeds a common humanity, a common humanity against the structures of power that oppress us all.


Kendi’s view of anti-racism is being touted by many progressives as the way forward and the ideology that Christians need to take in order to properly frame the Christian belief systems and the biblical narrative. As we can see, however, his rejection of “savior theology,” though he improperly articulates it, so no gospel at all.

Editor’s Note. h/t to @wokepreacherTV for providing the transcript and vid.

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7 thoughts on “Ibram X. Kendi: Antiracists Fundamentally Reject ‘Savior Theology’ And Embrace Liberation Theology

  1. Oh, so ‘we’ are saving people? Thanks, pastor, apparently the Bible has that screwed up.

  2. And there you have it, CRT promoters who want to claim Christianity are instructed to teach another gospel. The gospels of black liberation theology and feminist liberation theology (devolving into gay liberation theology) are destroying every mainline denomination. Thank the order of jesuits of South America for Liberation theology. Hey wait, isn’t the pope a South American Jesuit?

  3. People of color want justice. Women want justice. LGBTQAP++ want justice. Are you guys against justice? God is for justice and now that you white supremacists have to own up to the 2000 years worth of vile crimes and holocausts perpetuated by the white race, suddenly you don’t want to talk about God 🧐

    Thankfully my evangelical church is building back better. We stand with pride with 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

    1. Sorry, Johnny, in order to pontificate what God is or is not for, you need to know (and respect) God’s Word – something you clearly do not. Apparently, you are as knowledgeable about history, also.
      Glad to see you added your little flags back, they give the comments section a much-needed splash of color, even if a couple of them delineate you as a deviant/metally ill 🙂

  4. Y’all, “Johnny” is most likely a foreign troll. And perhaps a member of another religion. I suspect if you want to know his actual agenda, google “anti-missionary.”
    Regular online trolls are financially incentivized to be as provocative as possible, as they are paid per response. Every time you respond to one you’re putting money if their pocket. They love when someone will take the bait.
    If he’s an anti-missionary they are often members of the orthodox “j” community, especially in israel, and are incentivized by hatred of Christianity, especially evangelicalism. Too many of their own are converting and they’re on a mission to stop that in part by online gigging of the goyim in order to disrespect or even dehumanize them. Some of them teach their kids to do this in order to inoculate them from Christian missionary activity. That why they are called anti missionaries. Yeah, that’s a thing.

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