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A Black Theology of Liberation
by
James H. Cone,
Rosemary Radford Ruether , K.C. Abraham , Delores S. Williams , Gayraud Wilmore , Robert McAfee Brown , Pablo Richard
Offers a radical reappraisal of Christianity from the perspective of an oppressed Black North American community.
Paperback, 214 pages
Published
November 28th 1990
by Orbis Books
(first published January 1st 1986)
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James Cone is one of the big heavies in Black Liberation Theology. It's kind of an offshoot of Liberation Theology, made popular in South America, which began when South American Christians picked up the Bible and found emphases in it that their white European counterparts had missed or obscured to some degree-- emphases like justice and liberation for the oppressed and downtrodden (Luke 4:16-21, Matthew 25:31-45, etc.). Though they are quite important, in Liberation movements, these emphases ca...more
This is the book that President Obama bases part of his religious leanings on. Glenn Beck recommended it...
This is the book that President Obama bases part of his religious leanings on. Glenn Beck recommended it...
I read a lot of books about different religions, Jewish, Islamic, Protestant, LDS,Catholic, etc. all in an effort to better understand the religious world we live in. This book looks at how the 'oppressed' black person sees themselves in America and its culture.
It is very different tha...more
This is the book that President Obama bases part of his religious leanings on. Glenn Beck recommended it...
I read a lot of books about different religions, Jewish, Islamic, Protestant, LDS,Catholic, etc. all in an effort to better understand the religious world we live in. This book looks at how the 'oppressed' black person sees themselves in America and its culture.
It is very different tha...more
Published in 1970, one can definitely identify this a piece that was heavily focused on its contemporary time and situation. The book focuses on recovering the church as an instrument to fight injustice as opposed to a bystander or even endorser of oppression. I agree wholeheartedly with the thought that the church should fight oppression and hate, but I still wonder if I agree on whether or not violence should be condoned by the church. Cone suggests it should, and I am torn between the camps o...more
Before reading:
I remember thinking that the whole Obama/Jeramiah Wright church "scandal" was pretty silly. I am one step away from completely ignorant on the subject, but Black Liberation Theology doesn't sound so far fetched to me. What did Jesus do but try to save lost people and free people from their opressions (whether internally or externally-induced). If a group of especially opressed and ostracized people choose to apply Christ's teachings of freedom, liberation, and salvation to themsel...more
I remember thinking that the whole Obama/Jeramiah Wright church "scandal" was pretty silly. I am one step away from completely ignorant on the subject, but Black Liberation Theology doesn't sound so far fetched to me. What did Jesus do but try to save lost people and free people from their opressions (whether internally or externally-induced). If a group of especially opressed and ostracized people choose to apply Christ's teachings of freedom, liberation, and salvation to themsel...more
Oct 14, 2009
Colin J. Jackson
is currently reading it
I had to leave this for now...I could not phantom these ideas. I only reach page 11 and had to leave it there for now. To think that many a African Americans has use James Cone teachings. It has become a cornerstone land mark in the field. Now somewhat a classic where upon use as a benchmark to build on. As is quoted by some.
President Obama may well have been subliminally shaped into this kind of thinking by his former Rev. Jeremiah Wright. See video links below.
Click on(or Copy and paste into...more
President Obama may well have been subliminally shaped into this kind of thinking by his former Rev. Jeremiah Wright. See video links below.
Click on(or Copy and paste into...more
An extremely challenging book to read, especially since Cone does not mince words in the articulation of a theology that must authentically account for latent and overt racism in Christianity and white society in general against African-Americans. Although Cone has modified his stance in subsequent works to be more attentive to nuance in the history and contemporary realities of racism, the rawness of this book is an essential piece of placing the reader (especially the white reader in the US) i...more
By spring of 1969, James Cone had two substantial works under his belt: a dissertation on Karl Barth, and the mad-as-hell instant classic Black Theology and Black Power. This book, written that summer, represents Cone's first attempt to combine both those threads of his training and interest. The result is a very distinct work from BTBP: Cone has lost none of his fire, but has organized its expression around reference to the state of the art in mid-twentieth-century European Protestant theology....more
Aug 31, 2012
Stephen Yates
added it
Cone specifically formulates a specific and different Christology from orthodox Christianity which sees God's actions (OT and NT) perpetually in unity with oppressed peoples; in the context of the 1960s, Cone sees African Americans in this time period as one of these groups, and thus equates the civil rights struggle with a soteriological view. It is fascinating, but not orthodox. Problems with the view are his idea that only members of the oppressed people can do this type of theology (which di...more
25% of this book is brilliant, 50% makes you angry, and the rest is generally informative. Nevertheless, I think this is an important book to grapple with for anyone working with the African American poor in the context of church and social justice. It helps explain a lot of differences in entitlement and righteousness that is seen between the suburbs and city.
Victor Gimenez gave me this book to read after we had discussed some issues in the Christ and the City class. I had read it before back in the 70’s early 80’s but it was good to read again. Cone’s clear and sharp language leaves no room for doubt where he stands and places the issue squarely where they need to be. The notion that Jesus is “black” – a metaphor and symbol of oppression is powerful even today. While he notes his difficulty in speaking with whites on these issues. In the afterward h...more
He is so angry. How can I give his theology a chance when all he is saying is that I am inherently evil because I am white?
A gave it a two because it was interesting, however the theology is far fetched to say the least
A booked with hatred and racism. A false message based on a false understanding of the gospel!
I have a policy of always reading a book to at least p. 50 no matter how much I dslike it. I couldn't even get to p. 10 in this book.
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This book by Dr. Cone was amazing. It is not reciprocal hatred as some poster tried to put it. It is Cone's attempt to make the Christian Gospel relevant to African-Americans in the environment in which they lived. This work by Dr. Cone, I think, is relevant to any group that is marginalized by the powers of a society. He doesn't claim (or care) that Christ is black-but unreservedly claims that Christ ALWAYS identifies with the powerless in a society against those with all the power.
So racist.
had no idea what to expect when i read this book, and at first i was shocked and a little offended....it's still shocking, but after finishing it and working with it more, it's a pretty groundbreaking book and i found myself coming around to his ideas far more than i thought i would (although he probably wouldn't care less!)
I am examining this book under the circumstances in which it was written but it is still difficult to read. I have a difficult time when people try to make the gospel all centered on one specific social/religious issue and this book does exactly that regarding race.
Every churchperson should read this book. For years I thought this subject matter was confined to small circles; who knew it would be at the forefront of a national discussion about our next president?!
This book shaped a large part of my early ministry, and many of the concepts here have stayed with me. It was also my entry into being a Liberation Theologian, i.e., liberal preacher :)
this is what made me decide to be a religion major, back in freshman year!! & then i switched to anthro & everything has been downhill since.
Feb 24, 2008
Kendra
marked it as to-read
I've read part. Deep thinker. Big words and concepts.
May 20, 2013
Zacaharias Jensonius
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May 18, 2013
Katie Matson-Daley
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May 17, 2013
Nathan Attwood
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May 16, 2013
Nelson Chung
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May 15, 2013
Wes Ellis
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James Hal Cone is an advocate of Black liberation theology, a theology grounded in the experience of African Americans, and related to other Christian liberation theologies. In 1969, his book Black Theology and Black Power provided a new way to articulate the distinctiveness of theology in the black Church. James Cone’s work was influential and political from the time of his first publication, and...more
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“But there is no perfect guide for discerning God's movement in the world, Contrary to what many conservatives say, the Bible is not a blueprint on this matter. It is a valuable symbol for point to God's revelation in Jesus, but it is not self-interpreting. We are thus place in an existential situation of freedom in which the burden is on us to make decisions without a guaranteed ethical guide.”
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