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Black theology

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Template:Social Christianity "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."[1]

Black theology deals primarily with the African-American community, to make Christianity real for blacks. Black Theology explains Christianity as a matter of liberation here and now, rather than in an afterlife.

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' [2] to 'deliver the needy when he crieth; and the poor that hath no helper.'[3]"[4]

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.”[5] 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’.” [6]

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.[7]” “‘In Christ,’ Cone argues, ‘God enters human affairs and takes sides with the oppressed. Their suffering becomes his; their despair, divine despair.’”[8]

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." [9]

The Black Church vs. The White Church

Christianity is intimately associated with slavery and segregation in the minds of many African-Americans.[10] 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. [11]

For black theologists there is also the question of how the white church can be racist, composed of members who are 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. [12]

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[13] 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.

Criticisms

Many mainstream and conservative theologians take a dim view of black theology. "The Goals Of Black Liberal Theology" by theology scholar Dr. Robert A. Morley is one widely quoted paper citing specific criticisms of black theology. He states that black theology turns religion into sociology, and Jesus into a black Marxist rebel. While making statements against whites and Asians, it promotes a poor self-image among blacks, and describes the black man as a helpless victim of forces and people beyond his control. Black theology calls for political liberation instead of spiritual salvation. Fundamentally, it is not Bible-based, Christ-honoring theology from this critical viewpoint. [14] Anthony Bradley of the Christian Post interprets that the language of "economic parity" and references to "mal-distribution" is nothing more than channeling the views of Karl Marx. He believes James Cone and Cornel West have worked to incorporate Marxist thought into the black church, forming an ethical framework predicated on a system of oppressor class versus a victim much like Marxism.[15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A Black Theology of Liberation By James H. Cone 1990 ISBN-10: 0883446855 Page 27
  2. ^ (Psalm 10:14)
  3. ^ (Psalm 72:12)
  4. ^ http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
  5. ^ James H. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (hereafter Liberation) (Philadelphia: J. P. Lippencott, 1970),19.
  6. ^ http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/BlackTheology.html
  7. ^ (Luke 7:22)
  8. ^ http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
  9. ^ James H. Cone, interviewed by Barbara Reynolds, USA Today, 8 November 1989, 11A
  10. ^ http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
  11. ^ http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
  12. ^ http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/james_cone.html
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ Looking at Obama and black liberation theology Marie Jon February 19, 2008
  15. ^ The Marxist roots of Black Liberation Theology

References

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  • 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
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