The Cross and the Lynching Tree

by James H. Cone

Overview

The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and black death, the cross symbolizes divine power and black life; God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608330010
Publisher:	Orbis
Publication date:	10/23/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	65,554
File size:	677 KB

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xiii

1 "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See": The Cross and the Lynching Tree in the Black Experience 1

2 "The Terrible Beauty of the Cross" and the Tragedy of the Lynching Tree: A Reflection on Reinhold Niebuhr 30

3 Bearing the Cross and Staring Down the Lynching Tree: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Struggle to Redeem the Soul of America 65

4 The Recrucified Christ in Black Literary Imagination 93

5 "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep" 120

Conclusion: Legacies of the Cross and the Lynching Tree 152

Notes 167

Index 197

Editorial Reviews

When we see the crucifixion as a first-century lynching, we are confronted by the re-enactment of Christ's suffering in the blood-soaked history of African Americans," writes Cone (systematic theology, Union Theological Seminary; Black Theology & Black Power). With accessible allusions to Jesus, the sufferings of Old Testament figures, the lynchings of at least 5000 African Americans, and reflections of notable 20th-century Christian thinkers, including W.E.B. Du Boise, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King Jr., Cone points out that while many ordinary Christians, black and white, saw the cross "as the defining heart of the Christian faith," they were oblivious to its parallels in America's lynching tree. Cone forcefully shows that Jesus's cry to God after his crucifixion/lynching, "Why hast thou forsaken me!" speaks to the condition of blacks in America especially during the Jim Crow era and civil rights struggles. He notes that most white theologians have been blind to any analogy between the cross and the lynching tree and that lynch mobs were made up mainly of God-fearing Christians. VERDICT Cone calls for us to remember the lynching tree now to foster a Christianity that goes beyond empty pieties and fully embraces Jesus's teachings on suffering, the poor, and faith. While some readers may wish that Cone would recognize more nuance in white understanding of black suffering, this is essential reading.—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal

Library Journal