When someone is said to have a predilection toward something, it could imply bias—that can become a character trait. I recently discovered a French term that is a bit softer, and, I think better articulates it. The word is parti pris. It means a preconceived opinion. Upon learning the term, I discovered parti pris lurking in an uncomfortable niche in the fabric of my social DNA. I was raised at Deepstep; looking back, I saw a plenty of that animating principle of parti pris . Ostensibly, I was taught to have (a kind of) respect for the Black folk in our community and farm—treat them humanely; the atmosphere was chock-full of parti pris.
My relatives instilled in us that we “are not like” certain folks—black or white—in our church, school, or customers at grandaddy’s store. When things are steeped into your stew, you tend to not notice such fade-resistant opinions until you confront them head-on.
I remembered an occasion on one warm spring night in the Spring. I was driving home from band practice in my dad’s pickup truck “fat, dumb and happy.” For this lively teen-age boy it was way too early to go home. (Remember it was at Deepstep—no sidewalks to roll up at night!) I saw a light on at one of the pumping stations at the Kaolin mine, and recognized a pickup parked at the door. Our neighbor, Mr Hornbuckle, was working the night shift.
Lacking any compelling reason not to, I stopped and knocked on the door. Mr. Hornbuckle invited me inside. He worked with my dad, I knew his son from school. I also knew they were one of those families-white-but- “not like us”—and likely poor, ignorant laborers. He invited me to sit down, Lying in his lap was a Bible and some literature and note paper. My first shock!—He’s reading the Bible!? My second shock; He said, “I am working on my Sunday School lesson. I am teaching this Sunday. My third shock; A Sunday School Teacher!? This man not only reads—the Bible—and in his spare time! He is also smart enough to teach Sunday School!? I was astonished!
I don’t remember how long I stayed, but Mr. Hornbuckle dazzled me with his interest, enthusiasm, and knowledge of what he was doing. It shattered my Parti pris. My little well-contrived, comfortable world at Deepstep, now developed a small fissure. It would not be the last; on to college, more fissures; on to Emory University’s Candler School of Theology—on to life—fissures continued. They happen so that growth can happen Fortunately, more parti pris pop up like Whack-a-Moles. It is another part of the human condition that needs constant monitoring to digest the good. Our preconceived opinions form faster than ants at a picnic, as persistent, and as difficult to redirect.
Jesus was confronted by preconceived opinions; many thought he had come to replace the Roman government. The moment he was on trial, is the culmination of what was a parti pris. But we get the clearest, if not the earliest parti pris about Jesus from Nathaniel; having heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, he scoffed, Can anything from Nazareth be good? Nathaniel, due to his parti pris, was wrong about Jesus! It is a human tendency. Which is why we need Grace. In abundance.
©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2023