Were You There?: Godforsakenness in Slave Religion

by David Emmanuel Goatley

Contemporary Christian theology continues to struggle with the tragedy of inexplicable human suffering and the endurance of evil. The pressing issue of "Where is God?" in seemingly godless situations provides the focus of Were You There? Godforsakenness in Slave Religion. In this book, David Emmanuel Goatley investigates the doctrine of God in relation to the experience of those living under conditions of extreme oppression. In this experience of "Godforsakenness" Goatley finds an echo of Jesus' poignant cry from the cross, "My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Were You There? approaches this question through a narrative methodology, particularly by examining the slave narratives as well as the spirituals that were products of the same era. Both these sources provide important ways of viewing the experience of "Godforsakenness" and the problem of God's presence or absence in the extremities and absurdities of human suffering. Using these insights as a hermeneutic, Were You There? then proceeds to an interpretation of Jesus' cry of dereliction in Mark.

Genres: Theology

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, not a bad little volume here. Even though I find liberation theology to be out of touch and largely useless in ministry I still think Goatley has interesting things to say when talking about theology of slave spirituals. Some of the historical points he makes could be better sourced, but the first hand accounts of slavery coupled with his greater discussion of godforsakenness is appropriate and he comes to the right conclusion by the end. Which, hey, even if it took liberation theology to get there, I’m fine with it.

Helpful for a deep dive into black Christianity and a particular look at spirituals and the theology they convey.