Don’t beat the messengers

Abstract

Gerald Keown taught Hebrew Scriptures as living documents, relevant to our lives and applicable to our issues. Issues of social justice, about which Dr. Keown wrote and spoke publicly, should be addressed using the principles available in scripture. In Numbers 22, the figure of Balaam and his beating of the donkey teaches that Christians should be ready to hear truth from those who have been oppressed and to engage that truth to be aware of white privilege and to participate in acts of reparation.