The aim of this work is not the ending of a movement in all places; rather, it is to make manifest its mechanisms so that they may no longer operate in the shadows. 

                Occulta Manifesta Fiunt

Doctrines & Definitions Required

Anthropological Calvinism (Kinisim)

a form of Calvinist theology that places particular emphasis on the transmission of human nature through ordinary generation, inherited characteristics, common descent, and the continuity of peoples across generations. While retaining traditional Calvinist doctrines such as original sin, election, and divine sovereignty, it interprets many theological categories through the lens of anthropology, lineage, inheritance, and peoplehood.

Kinism 

A doctrine within Anthropological Calvinism that describes how human groups should live.

Race Realism 

A doctrine within Anthropological Calvinism that describes what human groups are. 

Doctrine of Man (Anthropology within Classical Calvinism)

The doctrine of man is the branch of theology that studies what human beings are, how they were created, what happened in the Fall, how sin affects them, and how they relate to God, one another, and the rest of creation.

Traducianism 

Traducianism is the doctrine that parents propagate the whole person, body and soul, through ordinary generation. According to this view, a child’s soul is derived from his parents just as his body is derived from his parents.

Creationism (of the soul)

Creationism is the doctrine that God directly creates each individual soul. While a child’s body is derived from his parents through ordinary generation, his soul is an immediate act of divine creation by God. 

Metaphysical Realism (Philosophy)

The philosophical belief that universal natures are real and not merely names or mental categories. A realist believes that things such as human nature, justice, or goodness have a real existence shared by individuals rather than being only labels assigned to similar things.

     Applied to Humanity

Human nature is a real thing shared by all human beings. People are not separate individuals who happen to resemble one another; they participate in a common human nature.

    Applied to Adam

Realism is used to explain humanity’s unity in Adam by arguing that the human race shares a real common nature rather than being a collection of unrelated individuals. Adam’s fall therefore affects the human nature shared by all his descendants.

    Applied to Race

Realism is used to explain that race is an objective feature of humanity rather than a social invention. Just as humanity is viewed as a real shared nature, race is understood to be a real inherited aspect of human identity established through common descent, inheritance, and ordinary generation rather than by social convention or cultural opinion.

Defining Race Realism 

What They Say It Means

“Race realism is the recognition that mankind is divided into distinct races, that the differences between the races are large and relatively permanent, and that this racial diversity ought to be acknowledged, celebrated, and defended.”

What They Actually Mean, Including Assumptions 

God created humanity in Adam. Through ordinary generation, parents propagate the whole person, body and soul to their children. Because the whole person is transmitted through lineage, inherited characteristics persist across generations and become embodied in families, clans, peoples, and nations. 

Race represents a real inherited aspect of human identity rooted in common descent. Distinct peoples develop characteristic traits, cultures, and social patterns through generations of propagation. Race is a real feature of human existence established through ancestry and inheritance and ordained by God rather than a social construct.

Theological Meaning 

God created humanity in Adam, the federal head and common ancestor of mankind. Race Realism holds to the position of traducianism instead of creationism (of the soul) to conclude that ordinary generation by the parents create the soul along with the whole person. 

Because the whole person is transmitted through descent, inherited characteristics persist across generations and become embodied in families, clans, peoples, and nations. Race therefore represents a real inherited aspect of human identity rooted in common ancestry. 

Distinct peoples develop characteristic traits, cultures, and social patterns through generations of propagation under God’s providence. Race, ethnicity, and peoplehood are therefore understood to be real features of the created order established through ancestry and inheritance rather than merely social constructions. Because these distinctions are viewed as part of God’s providential ordering of humanity, they should generally be respected, preserved, and not treated as insignificant or erased.

Plain English

Race realism is the belief that race is a real feature of humanity and not simply a label invented by society.

The reasoning goes like this:

1. People inherit characteristics from their parents.

2. Families pass those characteristics to their children over many generations.

3. Large groups of people with shared ancestry develop shared characteristics over time.

4. These groups become peoples, ethnic groups, and races.

5. Therefore, race is viewed as an objective result of ancestry and inheritance rather than something society made up.

In the Anthropological Calvanistic theology version, the argument goes further. God created humanity in Adam and ordained that people be propagated through ordinary generation. Parents pass on the whole person to their children. Because characteristics are inherited through lineage, families become clans, peoples, and nations that develop shared traits, cultures, and ways of life. Race is therefore understood to be a real inherited aspect of human identity rooted in common descent.

Race Realism is trying to answer the question, “What are human groups?” It is arguing that human groups are real inherited populations rather than arbitrary social categories.

What You Think It Means

Most outsiders understand the term Race Realism to mean that races are real inherited groups whose differences extend beyond appearance and include culture, behavior, and social patterns. They generally understand the doctrine to teach that these distinctions should be recognized and preserved and not dismissed as social constructs.

Problems arise when additional assumptions are attached to the definition. Outsiders may conclude that the definition of Race Realism includes beliefs about racial superiority, unequal worth, or unequal rights. Some advocates of Anthropological Calvanism may indeed hold those views, many do. Others do not or are unaware, particularly women, children and those with limited capacity to understand. 

Why That Is A Problem

Because insiders are operating from more assumptions than you about what Race Realism is, they see these added claims as a misrepresentation of what they actually believe Race Realism to mean.

Leaders within movements like this rarely state outright their beliefs in plain English, and they generally do not preach them as if they are intentionally and obviously racist from the pulpit. Therefore, insiders do not recognize your added assumptions about this term.

When critics repeatedly attribute positions that are not explicitly part of the definition, leaders in authority can point to those mistakes as evidence that opponents are dishonest or unwilling to understand the belief system on its own terms. Members under pressure become more likely to dismiss outside criticism. As a result, legitimate criticism may be ignored because they arrive mixed together with criticisms that insiders know are inaccurate.