Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ewenss (talk | contribs) at 04:32, 29 April 2008 (→Criticisms: its junk). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Social Christianity

Template:Totally-disputed

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. When placing this tag, consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (April 2008)

The message of black theology is that the African American struggle for liberation is consistent with the gospel--every theological statement must be consistent with, and perpetuate, the goals of liberation. This theology maintains that African Americans must be liberated from multiple forms of bondage--social, political, economic and religious. This liberation involves empowerment and seeks the right of self-definition, self-affirmation and self-determination.

Development

The modern American origins of contemporary black liberation theology can be traced to July 31, 1966, when an ad hoc group of 51 black pastors, calling themselves the National Committee of Negro Churchmen (NCNC), bought a full page ad in the New York Times to publish their "Black Power Statement," which proposed a more aggressive approach to combating racism using the Bible for inspiration.

James Cone and Dwight Hopkins are considered the leading theologians of this system of belief, although now there are many scholars who have contributed a great deal to the field. It was Cone who in 1969 published the seminal work that systemized black liberation theology, Black Theology and Black Power (1969). In the book, Cone asserted that not only was black power not alien to the Gospel, it was, in fact, the Gospel message for all of 20th century America.

James Cone and Black Theology

Liberation theology as it has expressed itself in the African-American community seeks to find a way to make the gospel relevant to black people who must struggle daily under the burden of white oppression.

James Cone defines the theology as thus:
"Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love."

More quotes on Black Theology from James Cone. Some of Cone's quotes have drawn controversy, especially in the political context of the 2008 Presidential campaign, as opponents of Barack Obama, whose pastor Jeremiah Wright was inspired by Cone's theology, put forward inflammatory excerpts of Cone's writings. • "To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!" . • "It is important to make a further distinction here among black hatred, black racism, and Black Power. Black hatred is the black man's strong aversion to white society. No black man living in white America can escape it...But the charge of black racism cannot be reconciled with the facts. While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism. Racism, according to Webster, is 'the assumption that psychocultural traits and capacities are determined by biological race and that races differ decisively from one another, which is usually coupled with a belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race and its rights to dominance over others.' Where are the examples among blacks in which they sought to assert their right to dominance over others because of a belief in black superiority?...Black Power is an affirmation of the humanity of blacks in spite of white racism. It says that only blacks really know the extent of white oppression, and thus only blacks are prepared to risk all to be free." • "All white men are responsible for white oppression. It is much too easy to say, "Racism is not my fault," or "I am not responsible for the country's inhumanity to the black man...But insofar as white do-gooders tolerate and sponsor racism in their educational institutions, their political, economic and social structures, their churches, and in every other aspect of American life, they are directly responsible for racism...Racism is possible because whites are indifferent to suffering and patient with cruelty. Karl Jaspers' description of metaphysical guilt is pertinent here. 'There exists among men, because they are men, a solidarity through which each shares responsibility for every injustice and every wrong committed in the world, and especially for crimes that are committed in his presence or of which he cannot be ignorant.' " • "For the gospel proclaims that God is with us now, actively fighting the forces which would make man captive. And it is the task of theology and the Church to know where God is at work so that we can join him in this fight against evil. In America we know where the evil is. We know that men are shot and lynched. We know that men are crammed into ghettos...There is a constant battle between Christ and Satan, and it is going on now. If we make this message contemporaneous with our own life situation, what does Christ's defeat of Satan mean for us?...The demonic forces of racism are real for the black man. Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil." The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces." • "Racism is a complete denial of the Incarnation and thus of Christianity...If there is any contemporary meaning of the Antichrist (or "the principalities and powers"), the white church seems to be a manifestation of it. It was the white "Christian" church which took the lead in establishing slavery as an institution and segregation as a pattern in society by sanctioning all-white congregations." • "Black theology cannot accept a view of God which does not represent God as being for oppressed blacks and thus against white oppressors. Living in a world of white oppressors, blacks have no time for a neutral God. The brutalities are too great and the pain too severe, and this means we must know where God is and what God is doing in the revolution. There is no use for a God who loves white oppressors the same as oppressed blacks. We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject God's love." • "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us, if God is not against white racists, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill gods that do not belong to the black community."

Black theology deals primarily with the African-American community, and attempts to find a way to make Christianity real for blacks, otherwise they will reject it. Black Theology tries to explain Christianity in a matter of the here and now, versus the afterlife model.

The goal of black theology is not for special treatment. Instead, "All Black theologians are asking for is for freedom and justice. No more, and no less. In asking for this, the Black theologians, turn to scripture as the sanction for their demand. The Psalmist writes for instance, 'If God is going to see righteousness established in the land, he himself must be particularly active as 'the helper of the fatherless' to 'deliver the needy when he crieth; and the poor that hath no helper.'"

On God and Jesus Christ

Cone based much of his liberationist theology on God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. For Cone, the theme of Yahweh’s concern was for “the lack of social, economic, and political justice for those who are poor and unwanted in society.” Cone also says that the same God is working for the oppressed blacks of the 20th century, and that “God is helping oppressed blacks and has identified with them, God Himself is spoken of as ‘black’.”

Cone saw Christ from the aspect of oppression and liberation. Cone uses the Gospel of Luke to illustrate this point: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.” “‘In Christ,’ Cone argues, ‘God enters human affairs and takes sides with the oppressed. Their suffering becomes his; their despair, divine despair.’”

Cone’s view is that Jesus was black, which he felt was a very important view of black people to see. "It's very important because you've got a lot of white images of Christ. In reality, Christ was not white, not European. That's important to the psychic and to the spiritual consciousness of black people who live in a ghetto and in a white society in which their lord and savior looks just like people who victimize them. God is whatever color God needs to be in order to let people know they're not nobodies, they're somebodies."

The Black Church vs. The White Church

Christianity is hopelessly associated with slavery and segregation in the minds of many African-Americans. Because of the differences in thought between the black and white community, the black church views services in a different way. This is an attempt to make the Black Church more accessible to the African-American community who must identify with the faith in order to accept it.

Differences in the church deal with the realms of the sacred and secular, public and private, and the focus of the afterlife. These two ideas are foreign to black culture, and their viewpoints are based more on community and the present.

For black theologists there is also a question of how the white church can be racist, but all themselves Christians. It was this question that caused Cone to have a crisis of faith, especially after Malcolm X’s proclamation against Christianity as the white man’s religion and the rise of black power.

South African theology

Black theology was popularized in southern Africa in the early 1970s by Basil Moore, a Methodist theologian in South Africa. It helped to give rise to, and developed in parallel with, the Black Consciousness Movement. Black theology was particularly influential in South Africa and Namibia for motivating resistance to apartheid.

Southern African black liberation theologians include Barney Pityana, Allan Boesak, Itumeleng Mosala and Zephania Kameeta.

UK black theology

In the United Kingdom, Dr Robert Beckford is the most well-known black liberation theologian. He was the first in the UK to develop and teach a course on Black Theology at an academic level. Black Theology: An International Journal is published in the UK. It is edited by Anthony Reddie, who has written over 40 journal articles, essays and books and is the most prolific black theology author in the UK today.

Controversies

Cone argued that God and Jesus Christ were both black, stating: “The 'raceless' American Christ has a light skin, wavy brown hair, and sometimes - wonder of wonders - blue eyes. For whites to find him with big lips and kinky hair is as offensive as it was for the Pharisees to find him partying with tax-collectors. But whether whites want to hear it or not, Christ is black, baby, with all of the features which are so detestable to white society.”

See also

• Liberation Theology
• Social Justice
• Black separatism
• Hermeneutics
• James Cone
• Louis Farrakhan

Notes

1. NPR A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120585801828545495.html?mod=fpa_mostpop
3. African American Religious Thought: An Anthology By Cornel West, Eddie S. Glaude 2003 ISBN 0664224598 Page 850
4. http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
5. A Black Theology of Liberation By James H. Cone 1990 ISBN-10: 0883446855 Page 27
6. (Psalm 10:14)
7. (Psalm 72:12)
8. http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
9. James H. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (hereafter Liberation) (Philadelphia: J. P. Lippencott, 1970),19.
10. http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/BlackTheology.html
11. (Luke 7:22)
12. http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
13. James H. Cone, interviewed by Barbara Reynolds, USA Today, 8 November 1989, 11A
14. http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
15. http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
16. http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/james_cone.html
18. J. H. Cone, "The White Church and Black Power," in G. S. Wilmore and J. H. Cone, Black Theology: A Documentary History, 1966-1979 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1979), 116-17.

References

This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use. This article was last edited by Ewenss (talk | contribs) 16 years ago. (Update timer)

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. When placing this tag, consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (April 2008)

• Aldred, Joe Preaching With Power London: Cassells, 1998
• Aldred, Joe Sisters with Power London: Continuum, 2000
• Andersson, Efraim Churches at the Grassroots London: Lutterworth Press, 1968
• Andrews, Dale P. Practical Theology for Black Churches Luisville: John Knox Press, 2002
• Bailey, Randall C. and Grant, Jacquelyn (Eds.) The Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995
• Black Theology: An International Journal Equinox Publishing Ltd., published three times per year.Dr Anthony Reddie, Ed, email: a.g.reddie@queens.ac.uk
• Cone, James H. ‘Black Theology And The Black Church: Where Do We Go From Here?’
• Wilmore, Gayraud and Cone, James H. (Eds.) Black Theology: A Documentary History, 1966-1979 Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1979. pp.350-359
• Cone, James H. Black Theology and Black Power (20th Anniversary Edition) New York: Harper SanFrancisco, 1989
• Cone, James H. For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church New York: Orbis Books, 1984
• Cone, James H. God of the Oppressed New York: Seabury Press, 1975
• Cone, James H. My Soul Looks Back New York: Orbis Books, 1986
• Cone, James H. The Spirituals and the Blues New York: Seabury Press, 1972
• Cone, James H. and Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Theology A Documentary History: Vol1. 1966-1979 New York: Orbis Books, 1992
• Cone, James H. and Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Theology A Documentary History: Vol2. 1980- 1992 New York: Orbis Books, 1993
• Douglas, Kelly Brown The Black Christ New York: Orbis Books, 1994
• Dube, Musa W. And Staley, Jeffrey L. John and Postcolonialism London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002
• DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk New York: Dover Publications 1994
• Duffield, Ian K. (ed) Urban Christ: Responses to John Vincent Sheffield: UTU, 1997
• Ela, Jean-Marc African Cry Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1986
• Evans, Jr., James H. We Have Been Believers An African American Systematic Theology Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992
• Felder, Cain Hope The African Heritage Study Bible Nashville, Tenn. The James C. Winston Publishing Company, 1993
• Felder, Cain Hope Stony The Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991
• Frazier, E. Franklin The Black Church in America New York: Shocken Books, 1964
• Gerloff, Roswith I. H. A Plea for British Black Theologies Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1992
• Grant, Paul and Patel, Raj (Eds.) A Time to Speak. Birmingham: A joint publication of ‘Racial Justice’ and the ‘Black Theology Working Group’ 1990
• Grant, Paul and Patel, Raj (Eds.) A Time To Act: Kairos 1992 Birmingham: A joint publication of ‘Racial Justice’ and the ‘Black Theology Working Group’ 1992
• Hood, Robert E. Must God Remain Greek?: Afro-Cultures and God-Talk Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990
• Hood, Robert E. Begrimmed and Black: Christian Traditions on Blacks and Blackness Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994
• Hope, Marjorie and Young, James The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979
• Hopkins, Dwight N. (Introducing) Black Theology of Liberation New York: Orbis book, 1999
• Hopkins, Dwight N. Down, Up and Over: Slave Religion and Black Theology Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000
• Hopkins, Dwight N. and Cummings, George Cut Loose Your Stammering Tongue: Black Theology and the Slave Narratives New York: Orbis Books, 1991
• Hopkins, Dwight N. (Ed.) Black Faith and Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power New York: Orbis Books, 1999
• Jagessar, Michael N. and Anthony G. Reddie (eds.) Postcolonial Black British Theology Peterborough, Epworth: 2007
• Jagessar, Michael N. and Anthony G. Reddie (eds.) Black Theology in Britain: Reader London, Equinox: 2007
• Jennings, Theodore W. Good News to the Poor Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990
• Jones, William R. Is God A White Racist? Boston: Beacon Press, 1998
• Kalilombe, Patrick A. Doing Theology at the Grassroots Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1999
• Lincoln, C. Eric The Black Church in the African American Experience Durham, N.Y.: Duke University Press, 1990
• Paris, Peter J. The Spirituality of African Peoples Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995
• Pinn, Anne and Anthony B. Black Church History Fortress Press, 2002
• Pinn, Anthony B. Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology New York: Continuum, 1995
• Pinn, Anthony B. Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003
• Reddie, Anthony Faith, Stories and the Experience of Black Elders London: Jessica Kingsley, 2001
• Reddie, Anthony Nobodies to Somebodies: Practical Theology for Education and Liberation Peterborough: Epworth Press, 2003
• Reddie, Anthony Acting in Solidarity Peterborough: DLT, 2005
• Reddie, Anthony Dramatizing Theologies London: Equinox, 2006
• Reddie, Anthony Black Theology in Transatlantic Dialogue Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
• Reddie, Richard S., Abolition! The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies. (Lion Hudson PLC: Oxford, 2007). ISBN 978-0-7459-5229-1
• Rabateau, Albert Slave Religion Oxford University Press, 1978
• Society for Biblical Literature Reading The Bible in The Global Village: Cape Town No.3 Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature, 2002
• Singleton III, Harry H. Black Theology and Ideology Collgeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2002
• Stewart III, Carlyle Fielding Black Spirituality and Black Consciousness Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1999
• Terrell, JoAnne Marie Power in the Blood?: The Cross in the African American Experience New York: Orbis books, 1998
• Wilkinson, John Church in Black and White St. Andrews Press, 1994
• Wilmore, Gayraud Black Religion and Black Radicalism New York: Orbis Books, 1973

External links

• Theology in Africa
• Black Theology Revisited

• Articles needing expert attention from April 2008
• Theology
• Religion and politics
• Christian theology
• Liberation theology
• Christianity in Africa
• Christianity in South Africa