Critical Grace Theory

Have you heard of critical race theory? Have you heard of critical gender theory? Have you heard of critical equality theory? All of these theories are being talked about in the media, universities, governments, and businesses. It is not surprising that Christian Leaders Institute would respond and put a free mini-course together to respond to the critical theory from a Christian worldview.

At Christian Leaders Institute everyone is invited to take courses free of charge. At CLI’s Leadership Excellence School, we offer low-cost college credentials that give more opportunities to more people to learn, grow and thrive as image-bearers of God.

Critical theory narrative attacks the grand narrative of Christianity. While it is not always Marxist, it does tend to see Christianity as a false narrative. As active Christians and ministers who believe the Bible as the Word of God, we believe in the Critical Grace theory as we evaluate ourselves, society, and the ideologies of our cultures.

Christian Leaders Institute offers a free mini-course on Critical Grace Theory that you can complete in less than 4 hours. This course will dive into many of the issues you have been reading about and some you have not thought about.

Critical Grace Theory is the study of how Biblical grace is applied to society and culture and how it functions in the personal lives of sinful humans redeemed through the message of Christianity.

But first, the Grand Narrative. 

The Biblical Grand Narrative begins this way. God, as revealed in the Bible, created humans as image-bearers, male and female. In Genesis 2, He told them to be fruitful and populate the earth. He told them to be the development ministers of the planet (subdue the earth).

Genesis 1:28   And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. KJV

God gave humans the freedom to either align themselves with God or not. They could eat of two trees. One meant an alignment with God, and the other meant they would go their own way.

Genesis 2:16-17   And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

The Bible’s Critical Grace Theory narrative depicts that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were tempted by a rebellious fallen angel, Satan. Through the form of a serpent, Satan said, “You will not surely die, but you will be like God knowing good and evil.” Adam and Eve chose that way. That is the default setting for human society even today.

As the Bible’s narrative unfolds through the pages of the Old Testament and into the New Testament, Christians believe that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to restore the broken relationship with God. Jesus paid for our sins and, through his resurrection, gives us new life. Now we are taught to live new lives of faith, hope, and love. The broken relationship is restored, and God has given us the Holy Spirit.  We are free to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to be stewards of our planet still while sharing the gospel of restoration and salvation.

This is the grand Christian narrative. 

Does the grand narrative of Christianity have something to say in this age of identity politics? Douglas Murray, in his book, Madness of Crowds, says that post-modernism killed all the grand narratives, including religion. He points out that people in rich developed nations are looking for something to make grand!

People in wealthy Western democracies today could not simply remain the first people in recorded history to have absolutely no explanation for what we are doing here, and no story to give life purpose. Whatever else they lacked, the grand narratives of the past at least gave life meaning. The question of what exactly we are meant to do now – other than get rich where we can and have whatever fun is on offer – was going to have to be answered by something. (Murray, Douglas. The Madness of Crowds (pp. 1-2). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition).

Murray believes that the new narrative is the Narrative of Identity or Identity Politics. In fact, he says that this narrative has been elevated to many as a new religion.

The purpose – unknowing in some people, deliberate in others – is to embed a new metaphysics into our societies: a new religion, if you will. (Murray, Douglas. The Madness of Crowds (p. 2). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition).

He says the new religion has a “trinity,” so to speak: The Father is Social Justice, the Son is Identity Politics, and the Holy Spirit is Intersectionality.

1. Social Justice – Make everything a social justice concern. Who can be against social justice?
2. Identity Group Politics – Segments groups through critical conflict theory and pit them off against each other.
3. Intersectionality – Instead of building up like the Holy Spirit does in Christianity; intersectionality disruptively destroys historical structures and systems to develop a “Marxist utopia” with a different twist.

The interpretation of the world through the lens of ‘social justice, ‘identity group politics’ and ‘intersectionalism’ is probably the most audacious and comprehensive effort since the end of the Cold War at creating a new ideology. (Murray, Douglas. The Madness of Crowds (p. 2). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition).

When Murray brings up intersectionality, he explains what it is.

The least attractive-sounding of this trinity is the concept of ‘intersectionality’. This is the invitation to spend the rest of our lives attempting to work out each and every identity and vulnerability claim in ourselves and others and then organize along whichever system of justice emerges from the perpetually moving hierarchy which we uncover. It is a system that is not just unworkable but dementing, making demands that are impossible towards ends that are unachievable. But today intersectionality has broken out from the social science departments of the liberal arts colleges from which it originated. It is now taken seriously by a generation of young people and – as we shall see – has become embedded via employment law (specifically through a ‘commitment to diversity’) in all the major corporations and governments. (Murray, Douglas. The Madness of Crowds (p. 3). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition).

This new religion is a grand narrative in its own way. This narrative is spreading the globe quickly. What is the Christian evaluation of this grand narrative?

Christian Leaders Institute offers free courses and mini-courses on over 125 subjects. One of the subjects is Critical Grace theory with over 3 hours of teaching.

Critical Grace Theory Free Mini-Course

The Critical Grace Theory mini-course evaluates seven central struggles that are being played out in the lives of people and cultures throughout the world from the perspective of the gospel. The topics are:

Gain insights on how the Grace of God addresses these problems and how it gives a Biblical road map for peace and joy.

Enroll at Christian Leaders Institute to take a free mini-course called Critical Grace Theory.

Step one:  Visit our homepage and register at the top of the page. Click here. 

Step Two: Complete the 15-minute welcome to CLI activity.

Step three: Enroll in the Critical Grace Theory Mini-Course.