Recent news headlines — such as transgender athletes in women’s sports, sexual identity instruction in schools, whether the term woman can be defined, and various forms of censorship — are all fertile ground for Christian author, speaker, and apologist Neil Shenvi’s goal to help people understand critical theory.
“It’s an umbrella category that seeks to understand how society is divided in terms of dominate and subordinate groups by power dynamics,” Shenvi said, explaining that critical race theory, critical white studies, and gender ideologies fall under critical theory.
Shenvi is based in North Carolina, but he travels and speaks to help others, particularly Christians, understand that labels are not what matters. Rather, it is the ideas they hold that are important.
“I really try to emphasize it’s the ideas that matter because if you simply firebomb some term, some label, they’ll simply relabel it and sell the same stuff again,” he said.
Those behind these theories, Shenvi said, try “to find fault with what’s called hegemonic narratives” that disagree with whatever worldview is held by them.
For Shenvi, critical theory correctly acknowledges the power dynamics but wrongly generalizes them across all locations, work environments, and educational contexts.
“There’s, for example, the idea of privilege. It’ll say white [people] are privileged, men are privileged, Christians are privileged, heterosexuals are privileged as a class across society, but the actual reality is in some contexts that’s true,” Shenvi said. “What if you’re an evangelical Christian and you’re attending Oberlin [College and Conservatory]” — which is known for being a liberal-leaning institution — “or you’re in the middle of Portland? Probably, your Christian privilege doesn’t exist, and it’s actually a liability.”
Whether someone would say he or she is a Christian, Shenvi said the way to break through these divisive power dynamics is not to ignore those who go against one’s worldview but to lean into the ideas and dialogue about them.
“We need open debate,” Shenvi said. “We need a robust public forum where people are free to express differing views and not be censored, not faced with repercussions in their job or even socially.”
SHANNON BREAM TACKLES TOUGH TOPICS IN NEW BOOK LOOKING AT FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
The notion of an open expression of ideas is something Shenvi appreciates about Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who recently touted the possibility of creating his own social media platform.
“He thinks for himself, and also I think he really does seem to be a proponent of free speech, which I’m a strong proponent of,” Shenvi said. “We should have a culture of free speech, which is harder — meaning that we can’t compel private companies to do certain things to promote free speech, but we should have social pressure that says free speech is good.”
Instead, modern power dynamics have created cancel culture, he said. In fact, as major social media platforms’ strict content moderation and censorship policies make people more isolated and polarized, dangerous extremism in society can grow, a new study shows.
Shenvi noted that when people suppress ideas, they are not only hurting others but also depriving themselves.
“You have to allow people to share their views and then try to understand them before you even critique them,” Shenvi said. “That’s one thing that critical theorists almost discourage because, in their view, if you give a platform to these oppressive views, then you’re so responsible for that.”
The idea of open dialogue, for Shenvi, is especially important for Christians, who can be seen as people who reject certain lifestyles or ideas out of hate.
“Even if you strongly believe someone is wrong about some issue, you have to be willing to talk about it with him in public, especially if you’re both professing Christians,” Shenvi said. “I truly believe that good theology and good doctrine and the truth can defend and withstand scrutiny. So, I will gladly share the stage with someone who totally disagrees with me and defend my views based upon Scripture and objective evidence.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Whether someone is a Christian, individually religious or spiritual, or an atheist, Shenvi’s hope is that society can grow to understand values and beliefs based on the worldview under which they live and not immediately reject them because of disagreement.
“I’m hoping even if they disagree strongly with [Christian] ethics, they say, ‘Well, that at least it’s not blind hatred. It’s actually a rational response to your view of reality.’ And then you can say, ‘OK, let’s talk about that.”’ Shenvi said.
