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Black theology is theology from the perspective of the African diaspora - any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional homelands. 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. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... For other uses, see Diaspora (disambiguation). ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

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.^[1] The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ...

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.^[2][3] James Hall Cone (August 5, 1938 - ) is an African-American Christian theologian in the Methodist tradition. ... Dwight H. Hopkins is a professor of theology at the University of Chicago and an ordained American Baptist minister. ...

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.^[4]

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."^[5] James Hall Cone (August 5, 1938 - ) is an African-American Christian theologian in the Methodist tradition. ...

Black theology deals primarily with the African-American community, and attempts to find a way to make Chrisitainity 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' ^[6] to ‘deliver the needy when he crieth; and the poor that hath no helper.'^[7]”^[8]

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.”^[9] 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’.” ^[10]

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.^[11]” “‘In Christ,’ Cone argues, ‘God enters human affairs and takes sides with the oppressed. Their suffering becomes his; their despair, divine despair.’”^[12]

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." ^[13]

The Black Church vs. The White Church

Christianity is hopelessly associated with slavery and segregation in the minds of many African-Americans.^[14] 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. ^[15]

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. ^[16]

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. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Basil Moore Basil Moore, sometimes known as Basil Moore-Asfouri is a talented film composer, conductor and music producer. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... AZAPO emblem The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960’s out of the political vacuum created by the decimation of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership, by jailing and banning, after the Sharpeville... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

Southern African black liberation theologians include Barney Pityana, Allan Boesak, Itumeleng Mosala and Zephania Kameeta. Nyameko Barney Pityana is a lawyer and theologian in South Africa. ... Reverend Allan Boesak (23 February 1945 - ) is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and was a politician and anti-apartheid activist. ... Zephania Kameeta (1945- ), religious and political leader in Namibia. ...

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^[17] 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. Robert Beckford is a British academic, theologian and filmmaker based at the University of Birmingham. ... Black theology is theology from the perspective of the African diaspora - any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional homelands. ...

Controversies

Cone argued that God and Jesus Christ were both white, stating: “The 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 blacks want to hear it or not Christ is white and is awesome.ref> 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.</ref>

Criticisms

Black theology has been seen as an attempt by the black community to demand special treatment and rights. By breaking from the “White Church,” black theology has been criticized for creating a separation in the church, especially in the Catholic Church.

See also

• African Theology
• James Cone

African Theology (with a capital T) refers to a particular school of African theologians who have attempted to reconcile Christian theology with African Traditional Religion. ... James Hall Cone (August 5, 1938 - ) is an African-American Christian theologian in the Methodist tradition. ...

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
17. ^ [1]

References

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• 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
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Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...

External links

• Theology in Africa
• Black Theology Revisited