📘 Lexicon Entry: Cotton Hermeneutic

A racialized approach to biblical interpretation that uses scripture to justify white supremacy, slavery, and racial hierarchy through selective reading and cultural accommodation

Cotton Hermeneutic represents a theological mutation that weaponizes biblical interpretation to justify racial hierarchy and white supremacy. Named for its historical role in defending the cotton economy’s dependence on enslaved labor, this hermeneutical approach selectively interprets scripture to support racial oppression while ignoring the Bible’s central themes of liberation, justice, and human dignity. This mutation corrupts authentic biblical interpretation by subordinating scriptural witness to economic and political interests, using proof-texting and cultural accommodation to make the Bible serve systems of racial domination. Unlike faithful biblical interpretation that allows scripture to challenge cultural assumptions, the Cotton Hermeneutic makes cultural arrangements the interpretive lens through which scripture is read. This mutation provided theological justification for American slavery and continues to influence contemporary forms of Providential Identitarianism and MAGA Christianism that assert divine blessing for racial and cultural hierarchy.

Theological Mutation

hermeneutics, race, slavery, white supremacy, biblical interpretation, racial hierarchy, cotton economy, proof-texting, cultural accommodation

Geevarghese-Uffman, Craig. “Cotton Hermeneutic.” *Political Theology Lexicon*. https://www.commonlifepolitics.com/p/lexicon. Accessed [date].

Scripture interpreted to reveal God’s liberating purposes for all humanity

Biblical witness to human dignity and equality grounding opposition to racial hierarchy

Hermeneutical approaches that allow scripture to challenge rather than accommodate cultural arrangements

Central biblical themes of justice and liberation informing interpretation of difficult passages

Scripture selectively interpreted to justify racial hierarchy and white supremacy

Biblical interpretation subordinated to economic and political interests supporting racial oppression

Proof-texting used to defend cultural arrangements while ignoring broader scriptural witness

Silence on biblical themes of liberation and justice that would challenge racial hierarchy

Selective use of scripture to justify racial oppression and hierarchy

Subordination of biblical interpretation to economic and political interests

Avoidance of biblical themes that would challenge racial arrangements

Cultural accommodation disguised as biblical faithfulness

Emerged in antebellum American Christianity to justify slavery

Developed through proslavery theological arguments and biblical defenses

Continued through post-Civil War theological justifications for segregation

Persists in contemporary forms that assert divine blessing for racial hierarchy

Reversal of biblical liberation themes to support oppression

Instrumentalization of scripture for non-theological purposes

Cultural captivity of biblical interpretation to racist assumptions

Selective reading that avoids challenging texts about justice and liberation

Proof-texting from passages about slavery without attention to broader biblical trajectory toward liberation

Ignoring central biblical themes about image of God and human dignity

Missing Jesus’s identification with marginalized and oppressed peoples

Avoiding prophetic literature’s consistent calls for justice and liberation

Biblical arguments for maintaining racial hierarchy and white privilege

Theological justifications for policies that disproportionately harm communities of color

Resistance to racial justice movements through appeals to biblical authority

Cultural Christianity that accommodates rather than challenges racist arrangements

Biblical justifications for anti-immigration policies that target non-white populations

Theological arguments for law enforcement practices that disproportionately impact communities of color

Religious language used to defend monuments and symbols associated with white supremacy

Appeals to biblical authority to resist racial justice movements and multicultural inclusion

Divine election interpreted as justification for white cultural and racial superiority

Biblical covenant language applied to support claims about divinely ordained racial hierarchy

Providential history narratives that minimize or justify racial oppression

Theological arguments that divine blessing requires maintenance of existing racial arrangements

Theological legitimation of systemic racism and white supremacy

Undermining of biblical authority through association with racial oppression

Alienation of communities of color from Christian faith and institutions

Perpetuation of racial division within Christian communities

Studies of proslavery biblical interpretation and its contemporary legacy

Research on race and hermeneutics in American Christianity

Analysis of theological justifications for racial hierarchy and oppression

Related Primary Concepts: Providential Identitarianism, MAGA Christianism, Dominative Christianism

Key Mutations: Primitive Biblicism, Practical Atheism, Binary Apocalypticism

Contemporary Movements: Christian Nationalism

Theological Alternatives: Prophetic Patriotism, Counter-Imperial

Historical Context: Cotton Evangelicalism, Plantation Capitalism

May 22, 2025

*This entry is part of the Political Theology Lexicon, accessible exclusively to subscribers. View the complete lexicon to explore related concepts and the full theoretical framework.*