On CRT and Intersectionality in Biblical studies: a thread . Buckle up, buttercup cause we’re about to use some BUZZWORDS up in here. And to make it easier to understand/more clickbaity, I’m also gonna use Mean Girls memes to explain:

When I decided on it for the topic of my dissertation, ‘intersectionality’ was a buzzword in academia but now it’s a buzzword all over. W/ the SBC statement & subsequent debate about what some call ‘CRT/Intersectionality’, it’s even part of the convo in Biblical studies circles

So natch, I have some thoughts. 1st: It's not ‘CRT/Intersectionality’. Grouping Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality together as if they’re the same thing is like saying ‘Religious Studies/Apocalyptic Paul'. They’re connected but you really can’t exchange one for the other

2nd: The basic benefit of using CRT-derived ideas and tools (like intersectionality) in Biblical studies is that it helps scholars pay attention to previously marginalized elements of the text and/or our own hermeneutical lenses and biases, particularly around race.

Think of how this could help us better understand the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 or, say, the baptismal formula of Gal 3:28, 1 Cor 12:13, and Col 3:11, which covers identities around gender, race, social status, class, and ethnicity!

Intersectionality is an idea that came from CRT more broadly but really from the voices of women of color for hundreds of yrs. For ex: Anna May Cooper’s ‘A Voice From the South’ (1892) which IDs the unique difficulties of being both a woman and a POC.

This brings us(w a lot of stuff left out in btw) to @sandylocks who coined the term ‘intersectionality’ in the 1980s. She offered the metaphor of an intersection to describe the unique situation of a person at the center of multiple marginalized identities https://tinyurl.com/yxefhrgf 

Now, with the help of lots of scholars from diff disciplines, intersectionality can be a way 2 view systems of power/oppression, a way 2 understand identity, or a set of methodologies through which 2 inc intersectional thinking in other fields. It’s fluid and difficult to define

But that fluidity is a benefit: it means it's flexible. In bib studies, we can use intersectional methodologies to address blind spots and find new facets of the text that we’d missed because we’re, you know, human and stuff.

Intersectionality also offers tools to understand & address inequalities arising from interpretations of the text that privilege some people & not others. This incl situational backgrounds of the text itself and troublesome interpretations that cause inequality and division

Basically: these are useful tools that can help us understand the Bible *more*. Arguing that "CRT/Intersectionality" are problematic because they're "not from Xn sources" undercuts a valuable analytical tool that's just as useful as literary, historical, or rhetorical analyses.