One Blood

            During the past fifty years, Western culture has experienced a significant shift in its overall stance regarding multiethnic marriage. As late as 1966, seventeen of the fifty states still enforced laws that prohibited certain types of racial intermixing within the bonds of matrimony. [1] The following year, however, the Supreme Court rendered such statutes unconstitutional after hearing the groundbreaking case Loving v. Virginia . [2]             The Commonwealth of Virginia was one of the states that did not permit couples from dissimilar ethnic backgrounds to wed. In 1958 Richard Loving (a Caucasian) and Mildred Jeter (an African-American with Rappahannock heritage) held their wedding ceremony in Washington, D.C., because the district had no such restrictions. [3] Their attempt to curtail their state’s law, however, met with resistance when they returned to their Virginia residence. ...

             Discouragement may be the first reaction multiethnic couples express when their counselor divulges the sheer quantity of challenges they may encounter as a result of intermarriage. The majority of ethnically diverse couples, however, likely will minimalize the data. During the engagement stage of their relationship, couples often mistakenly reckon their bond robust enough to weather any potential conflicts that occur within marriage. The emotional excitement of their impending wedding, along with the prospect of their new life together, tends to overshadow the fact that all spouses experience conflicts.             In cases in which couples become discouraged by the challenges they might face, counselors should not dismiss the couple’s disheartenment immediately. Their reaction may be an indication they have decided too hastily to marry. Directed questioning, as well as diligent obs...

            First Corinthians 12:4-31 is one of the apostle Paul’s most well-known passages. In this memorable text, he addressed the bitter conflict that the Christians at Corinth experienced, explaining that such behavior was not appropriate for followers of Christ. Three factors fueled their disunity: 1) ethnic differences; 2) cultural differences; and 3) socio-economic differences. Like the city of Corinth, the Corinthian church was a melting pot. Jews, Greeks, slaves, and free people rubbed shoulders with one another in the congregation, but not always amicably. In order to emphasize the unity Christians should enjoy, Paul made use of a clever illustration. He explained that just as various organs, when knit together, form one body, the Lord has joined Christians together to become the body of Christ. The unifying factor is the Holy Spirit who resides in each Christian. Verse 13 summarizes this essential doctrine: “For als...

Much like missionaries who labor cross-culturally experience some degree of culture shock, multiethnic couples will encounter significant cultural differences within the marriage covenant. Regardless of how long husbands and wives have been acquainted with each other prior to their wedding, subsequent interactions inevitably will reveal innumerable cultural practices of which they were unaware. Committed Christians possess a spiritual kinship and a theological system of belief that is common to them, but the ways in which representatives of unrelated cultures approach certain matters may be worlds apart.             Missiologists, anthropologists, and theologians refer to this phenomenon as worldview. Apologist James Sire provided an excellent definition of this important concept: A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions w...

In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois remarked, “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” [1] A century later, professors Jennifer Lee and Frank Bean insisted that “the question of the 21 st century could be one of multiple color lines .” [2] Given the sheer rapidity with which ethnic populations and multiethnic people are increasing in numbers in the United States, [3] Lee and Bean are more than justified in making this statement.             Increasingly sophisticated genetic studies reveal that since the nation’s inception, it has been more widely intermixed that anyone previously had imagined. A full 75 to 90 percent of African Americans have Anglo ancestry due to the brutal consequences of slavery, which has contributed between 20 and 25 percent of their genetic makeup. [4] This intermixture, however, did not just affect African Americans. A considerable number of Anglos also possess African ancestry,...

The issues of ethnic identity and misidentification are topics of concern for many multiethnic individuals because they do not necessarily resemble one—or sometimes either—of their parents. Additionally, the blending of their diverse ancestries may obscure aspects of their ethnic heritage, or cause them to resemble another people group to which they are not related. [1] Misidentification can be a source of frustration if the issue is iterative, and variations of the question “what are you?” can become a source of irritation. Counselees who struggle with the issue of misidentification will need to put several principles into practice in order to avoid as much frustration as possible. [2] First, they must recall that all Christians must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger in their interactions with others (cf. Jas. 1:19). Some questioners will focus on the issue of ethnicity out of spite, or because they view a multiethnic person as “something other than them.” Others...

            Joshua 2 relates that, during the period of the Conquest, Israel’s spies received assistance from an unexpected source when Rahab the harlot hid them among the stalks of flax that were drying on her roof. She convinced Jericho’s search party that the two spies already had escaped and were headed toward the Jordan River (Josh. 2:3-7). Rahab’s confession that God rules both Heaven and earth (Josh. 2:9-11) amounted to a rejection of her Canaanite idols and an unwavering commitment to the God of Israel. [i] The result of Rahab’s courageous actions and her newfound faith was a treaty with the covenant people that saved her and her entire family from the Israelite extermination of Jericho’s population (Josh. 2:12-14, 17-20).             After their deliverance, Rahab and her relatives resided “outside the camp of Israel” for a time (Josh. 6:23b), but assimilation into the covenant people soon ...

            In the 1970s, large populations of Asians and Hispanics filtered into the United States in unprecedented numbers. Their arrival “altered the [country’s] ethnoracial composition” [1] and produced new ethnic admixtures. In spite of these developments, sociological research continued   to focus almost exclusively on the pairing of African Americans and Anglos, as well as the children they bore. The presumable reasons for this fixation were, 1) the persistence of historical problems that defined interactions between African Americans and Anglos; 2) African American and Anglo pairings were the most controversial admixture in the United States because of strained interrelations; [2] 3) the nation still perceived race through the binary lens of “Black and White” because it had not yet acclimated to the presence of sizeable Asian and Hispanic populations.             On May 12, 1977, the O...