Steven M. Bryan. Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God: A Biblical Theology of Ethnicity, Nationality, and Race

In Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God, American NT scholar Steven M. Bryan considers how various aspects of cultural identity fit into God’s ultimate plan from creation to eternity. Eleven concise and evocative chapters explore how specific biblical passages and books illumine this question. Analogies from decades of service in Ethiopia often illustrate Bryan’s points. He successfully demonstrates that human unity and diversity are essential to God’s unfolding plan. Here is my chapter-by-chapter breakdown:Chapter 1 interprets the iron and clay feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream statue (Dan 2) to signify the problem of diversity for human rulers and empires (p. 18). Bryan challenges the Western notion that individuals are the basic constituents of society; rather, group identity is constituent of personal identity (p. 25). Whereas humans tend to fear and shun diversity, God’s purpose is for peoples, not just for people (p. 34).Chapter 2 argues that human diversity was God’s original plan in Gen 1–3. Bearing God’s image, all humans are endowed “with equal dignity and worth” (p. 37) as they exhibit “teeming diversity” (p. 38). Kinship groups and cultural expressions—for example, metallurgy, music (4:17–22), nations (10:1–32)—are how humans “fill the earth and subdue it” (1:28; pp. 39–41), not consequences of the Fall. Cultures, as total systems, designate roles for every function of society. Gender and sexuality contribute to identity but exist within cultures (pp. 54–56).Chapter 3 highlights resistance to God’s intentions for both diversity and unity in Gen 4–11. For example, descriptions of Cain the farmer versus Abel the herder correspond to basic cultural distinctions. Cain opposed ways of life that differed from his own. Yet Cain’s choice to farm added diversity just as his choice to kill resisted it.Chapter 4 shows how the patriarchal narratives (Gen 12–50) reveal God’s intention to bless all peoples as peoples, not merely as individuals. Encounter with God’s covenant people is instrumental. Bryan critiques the assumption that opposition is inevitable to cultural identity (p. 99), but he does not identify or engage anyone who holds such a position.Chapter 5 looks at Joshua and explains that God’s promise requires “the destruction of idolatrous nations” (p. 109, cf. p. 119). Bryan emphasizes that specific “national identities” are destroyed (p. 116, original emphasis) but sometimes blurs the line between national and cultural identities (p. 128). The laws and narratives of conquest challenge our understanding of God’s will to bless all nations. Yet the conquest paradigm explains Israel’s exile—God removes guilty nations (pp. 124–27)—while Ezekiel’s resurrection vision (37:1–28) funds national, not individualistic, hope (p. 129).Chapter 6 encourages readers to see peoples in texts, not just individuals, showing how Matthew introduces the centurion (8:5–13) and the Canaanite (15:21–28) in both individual and corporate terms. The Great Commission (28:18–20) resolves Jesus’s apparent ethnic exclusivity. Regarding group privilege and inequality (pp. 147–50), Bryan objects to removing privilege (p. 148) but does not identify who proposes doing so.Chapter 7 focuses on Luke and Acts. Bryan treats Luke’s two Samaritans (10:30–37; 17:11–19) unevenly. One “meets with God’s approval, despite being a Samaritan” (p. 161). But, Jesus chose a Samaritan protagonist. Bryan repeats the commonplace but incorrect claim, “Samaritans were descended from intermarriage between Jews” and non-Jews (p. 164). Yet he recognizes their virtue: one exemplifies love toward God; the other toward neighbor (p. 166). In Acts, integrating diverse ethnicities into one people of God precludes assimilation, subjugation, or erasure (p. 168)—the tactics of rulers threatened by diversity.Chapter 8 traces Bryan’s thesis through Johannine literature. John’s negative use of Jews/Judeans could be culturally permissible by targeting a perceived dominant group. Bryan treats Samaritans unevenly again (pp. 187–90). The woman at the well was “apostate through willful sin”; her people “apostate through idolatry” (p. 188). Nevertheless, he shares insightful correlations regarding Jacob and Rachel at that well (p. 188) and explains how “Jesus undercuts” (p. 190) claims of superiority. Regarding Jesus’s prayer (John 17), Bryan consolidates several insights: “God who promised to form from Abraham a people made up of all peoples did so as an expression of his own identity as God in three persons . . . they enter into the relational unity of God himself, but they do not do so merely as individuals” (pp. 200–201).Chapter 9 indicates that, for Paul, “All Israel” (Rom 11:26; cf. Gal 6:16) designates the unified, multiethnic community of the faithful (p. 221). The implications of Christian faith are contextual, so Bryan distinguishes Roman versus Corinthian settings for controversies about food sacrificed to idols. Bryan explains that “our cultures influence how we sin” (pp. 215–16). No culture sins more than another—just differently.Chapter 10 presents a compelling interpretation of Revelation. “Every tribe and language and people and nation” (e.g., Rev 5:9 et passim) is thematic (pp. 238–39). John the Seer “imagines a world . . . in which the tension between unity and diversity is finally resolved” (p. 231), not through worldly means—assimilation, subjugation, or mere tolerance—but through “redemption by the Lamb and . . . worship of the Lamb” (p. 239). Each nation contributes its distinctive beauty and glory to God’s greater glory (p. 246).Chapter 11 concludes with some implications of God’s ultimate, salvific purpose for “individuals within peoples, peoples within a people” (p. 254). A Christian vision necessarily includes both cultural difference and commonality (pp. 254–56). Thus, “Christian nationalism” is a contradiction in terms (p. 255). Righteousness entails giving up the power that allows one group to oppress another (p. 258).The book includes a section with several well-crafted discussion questions for each chapter (pp. 263–69), a General Index (pp. 271–78), and a Scripture Index (pp. 279–86). Its worthwhile insights into scripture and the complex dynamics of cultural identity contribute positively to biblical theology.Nevertheless, it has limitations. Bryan sufficiently supports his overall thesis, but his selection of texts is somewhat arbitrary, and his interpretations vary in cogency and persuasiveness. Occasionally, Bryan mentions ideas, scholars, or studies without identifying them or engaging them substantively. Thus, critical race theory becomes a straw opponent (p. 100). He could engage more with contemporary approaches to race and apply his insights to society’s enduring concerns—illuminating Christian engagement with Native American and African American identities, for instance.These critiques notwithstanding, this book will stimulate vital dialogue in classrooms and churches.