A Black Theology of Liberation

by James H. Cone

Overview

With the publication of his two early works, Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), James Cone emerged as one of the most theological voices in North America. These books, which offered a searing indictment of white theology and society, introduced a radical reappraisal of the Christian message for our time. Joining the spirit of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., Cone radically reappraised Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed black community in North America. Forty years later, Cone s work retains its original power, enhanced now by his reflections on the evolution of his own thinking and of black theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608330362
Publisher:	Orbis
Publication date:	03/22/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	178,288
File size:	2 MB

Editorial Reviews

When A Black Theology of Liberation was first published in 1970, it was revolutionary because it claimed that white theology had no relevance as Christ's message because it was "not related to the liberation of the poor." It also asserted that "racism. . . . is found not only in American society and its churches but particularly in the discipline in theology, affecting its nature and purpose." Gone was among the leaders in the establishment of a black theology movement that reinterpreted Christianity as a tool for the liberation of the black community.

His message was the Christian response to the Black Power movement that emerged in the late 1970s. Uke Martin Luther King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Cone rejected any form of Christianity that defended the oppressive status quo, and he argued persuasively that the God of the Bible is first of all a God of the poor and of those seeking liberation from oppression. Cone felt that what was needed was a "fresh start" in theology that would arise out of the black struggle for justice and be in no way dependent upon the approval of white academics or religious leaders. "I knew that racism was a heresy, and I did not need to have white theologians tell me so. Indeed, the exploitation of persons of color was the central theological problem of our time. 'The problem of the twentieth century,' wrote W. E. B. Du Bois in 1906, 'is the problem of the color line.'Just as whites had not listened to Du Bois, I did not expect white theologians to take black theology seriously."

A Black Theology of Liberation laid the groundwork and sets the standard for that "fresh start." Cone's revolutionary work has been immensely influential among black ministers throughout the United States and the liberation theology movement around the world.

Sacred Fire