“Without pointing out a single unbiblical thing about the Dallas Statement or referencing Holy Scripture, Keller denounced the Dallas Statement based upon a Marxist linguistic and philosophical tenet.”
(JD Hall – Pulpit & Pen) Tim Keller was recently asked about the Dallas Statement on Social Justice and Gospel, and his words weren’t very kind. According to Keller, the statement can’t be judged based upon whether or not the words are right, but by the consequences those words might eventually bring about. To summarize Keller another way, the words contained within the Dallas Statement may be true, but they are still bad because of their ramifications. Unable or unwilling to explain any theological deficiencies in the statement, Keller cites Marxist philosophical tenet called Speech Act Theory.
This tenet is a subset of the discipline of pragmatics, and it holds that words not only convey information (their literal reading) but they can also be used to carry out actions. Speech-Act Theory was developed by American philosopher, J.R. Searle. Searle is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and he is a protege and fan of Jürgen Habermas, the German Marxist and supporter of the Neo-Marxian Frankfort School. Speech Act Theory has been pivotal in the aggression of Marxism in the fields of both philosophy and linguistics and has been essential in developing the notion of verbal microaggressions. Through Speech-Act Theory, Marxists have popularized the notion that words can be bad, even if they’re true if they cause adverse side-effects. Seemingly innocent and innocuous speech can be sinister if it’s a subtle cue from the majority to further oppress the victim class. Keller began, “You can’t just analyze words by what they say, but analyze words by what they do.” And that’s how Keller begins his denunciation of the Dallas Statement, with actual, honest-to-goodness, Marxist theory.
Research: