Ethnicity persists after conversion, speaker argues via St. Moses icon and Augustine
What the video says
The speaker asks why Saint Moses the Black is depicted as black in icons rather than gray, arguing that ethnicity remains part of individual identity after conversion. He says identity includes family and other groupings that are ontological links not erased by baptism, just as gender is not erased. He cites Augustine's commentary on Galatians to show that historical and biological realities persist even though final judgment is based on keeping Christ's commandments.
He criticizes the use of "neither male nor female" to deny gender's reality, saying that making masculinity or weight lifting an idol does not invalidate the created order of nations and ethnicities.
Key moments
- The speaker questions why Saint Moses the Black is shown as black in his icon instead of gray, suggesting ethnicity is not removed by conversion.
- He argues that individual identity retains its layers, including ethnicity, and is not reduced to a radical individualism.
- Identity includes family and other groupings that constitute real metaphysical, ontological links.
- These links do not disappear upon conversion, just as gender does not disappear upon conversion.
- He references Paul's statement that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, and turns to Augustine's commentary on Galatians.
- Augustine says that in the eschaton judgment is based on keeping Christ's commandments, but historical and biological realities remain.
- The same Galatians passage is used by some to claim gender is not real because "in Christ there is no male nor female."
- The speaker responds that one can make masculinity or weight lifting an idol, but that amounts to castigating God for creating various ethnicities and nations.
The post opens with the assertion that people groups are real and that liberalism denies this, framing the opposition as part of a globalist agenda, and invokes Saint Moses the Black. The accompanying video features a speaker who asks why Saint Moses the Black is depicted as black in icons rather than gray, and he argues that this depiction demonstrates that ethnicity remains part of individual identity after conversion.
He explains that individual identity retains its layers, including ethnicity, and is not reduced to a radical individualism. He states that identity includes family and other groupings that constitute real metaphysical, ontological links, and that these links do not disappear upon conversion, just as gender does not disappear upon conversion.
He references Paul's declaration that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, and he cites Augustine's commentary on Galatians for clarification. Augustine explains that in the eschaton judgment is based on keeping Christ's commandments, yet historical and biological realities remain. The speaker observes that the same Galatians passage is often invoked to claim gender is not real because "in Christ there is no male nor female."
He counters that making masculinity or weight lifting an idol does not invalidate the created order of nations and ethnicities, and that such an argument amounts to castigating God for creating various ethnicities and nations. The discussion centers on the persistence of created distinctions such as ethnicity and gender within the Christian life, and on the misuse of a Pauline text to deny those distinctions.
Main points
- The speaker questions why Saint Moses the Black is shown as black in his icon instead of gray, suggesting ethnicity is not removed by conversion.
- He argues that individual identity retains its layers, including ethnicity, and is not reduced to radical individualism.
- Identity includes family and other groupings that constitute real ontological links, which do not disappear upon conversion, just as gender does not.
- He cites Augustine's commentary on Galatians: judgment is based on keeping Christ's commandments, but historical and biological realities remain.
- He responds to the use of "neither male nor female" to deny gender, saying that making masculinity an idol does not invalidate the created order of nations and ethnicities.