Castrating Culture: A Christian Perspective on Ethnic Identity from the Margins

What does it mean to have an ethnic heritage that is in any way different from that of the prevailing, dominant culture? And how do we save cultural diversity from being swallowed up by Anglo-American sameness? Too often, Christians associate the God-given gift of ethnic identity with the evils of ethnic cleansing, genocide, hatred, or cruelty. Instead they need to see the richness of unity in diversity as modeled for them by their Trinitarian God. Hughes develops his argument from his own rich and sometimes painful experiences, as well as from biblical truth, historical and present social, cultural, and political reality. Ethnic identity is not the cause of violent conflict but rather a gift from our creative God that needs to be preserved and nurtured. Powerful ethnic identities have, and continue, to castrate cultures by not allowing them to pass on to future generations the richness of their heritage. Hughes argues that as Christians, we need to have a positive understanding of ethnic identity.