According to the online American edition of the Spectator, the famous statue of George Whitefield, which was the inspiration behind the Banner of Truth logo, is to be removed from its present locale because of Whitefield’s participation in the race-based slavery of his day.
The article does a credible job of seeking to understand Whitefield in his context without whitewashing his sin. Although one statement in the article, namely that Whitefield ‘was the Donald Trump of the 1740s, albeit with a slightly higher degree of biblical literacy’, seems quite ridiculous to this writer.
Now, it is readily understandable why a secular university kowtowing to cultural pressure would want to get rid of the statue of Whitefield, but the action raises important questions about how we as Christians remember the past. Some wise words of Eberhard Bethge, the friend and biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, are of enormous help here:
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