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Black Theology: A Documentary History, Volume One: 1966–1979
This historic Black Theology by James H. Cone and Gayraud S. Wilmore is a two volume documentary set. The Black Theology - A Documentary History became the classic sourcebook for the emergence of Black rheology in the United States. Born out of the Civil Rights movement and the emerging demand for Black Power, Black theology has struggled for twenty-five years to relate the gospel to the African American experience. Volume 11 brings the development of Black theology up-to-date, covering such issues as the relevance of Black theology to pastoral ministry, Black biblical interpretation, womanist theology, and the increased dialogue with other third world theologies".
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First published November 1, 1979
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About the author
James H. Cone
42 books353 followersJames Hal Cone was 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 remains so to this day. His work has been both utilized and critiqued inside and outside of the African American theological community.
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July 4, 2024
AN INDISPENSABLE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS
Gayraud S. Wilmore (born 1921) is an ordained Presbyterian minister who has taught at the Boston University School of Theology, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, New York Theological Seminary (where he served as dean of divinity), the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. James Hal Cone (born 1938) is an American theologian who is Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1970. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 657-page paperback edition.]
Wilmore writes in his General Introduction to this 1979 collection of essays, "A few years ago James H. Cone asked me if I had considered editing a book for seminary students that would collect and appraise the various sources for Black Theology embedded in the history and culture of our people in the Americas and West Africa... This book is, in a way, a much less ambitious version of what Professor Cone proposed... Our purpose is threefold. First, we wanted to gather together the most significant documents of the Black churches and church-related movements which would present the origin and development of Black Theology... Second, we wanted to fill out the picture with articles and essays that presented the program of Black Theology, or played a significant part in setting Black preachers and scholars in motion... Finally, it was our intention to write the kind of critical commentaries that would reflect our own personal experience as participants in what transpired." (Pg. 1-3)
They acknowledge, “Why should essays written by Black women be consigned to a separate section? The articles themselves… define the problem. Black Theology has been a Black-male-dominated enterprise and to the extent that it continues to be so, our sisters say quite clearly, it cannot be an authentic means of liberation.” (Pg. 7)
In his important essay, ‘Black Power and the American Christ,’ Vincent Harding states, “Perhaps the first and most central discovery is also the most obvious: there is a strong and causative link between Black Power and American Christianity. Indeed one may say with confidence that whatever its other sources, the ideology of blackness surely grows out of the deep ambivalence of American Negroes to the Christ we have encountered here.” (Pg. 36)
They include James Forman’s ‘Black Manifesto,’ which was read while interrupting the service at Riverside Church in New York City on May 4, 1969. The most controversial provision was probably the call for Reparations: “We are therefore demanding of the white Christian churches and Jewish synagogues… that they begin to pay reparations to black people in this country. We are demanding $500,000,000 from the Christian white churches and the Jewish synagogues. This total comes to 15 dollars per [black person]… We are demanding $500,000,000 to be spent in the following way: 1. We call for the establishment of a Southern land bank to help our brothers and sisters who have to leave their land because of racist pressure on people who want to establish cooperative farms… 2. We call for the establishment of four major publishing and printing industries … 3. We call for the establishment of four of the most advanced scientific and futuristic audio-visual networks to be located in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. … 4. We call for a research skills center which will provide research on the problems of black people… 5. We call for the establishment of a training center… 6. We recognize the role of the National Welfare Rights Organization and we intend to work with them… 7. … to establish a National Black Labor Strike and Defense Fund… 8. We call for the establishment of an International Black Appeal… 9. We call for the establishment of a Black University… 10. We demand that IFCO allocate all unused funds in the planning budget to implement the demands of this conference.” (Pg. 84-85)
In the Response of the National Committee of Black Churchmen to the ‘Black Manifesto,’ they state, “It must be clearly understood that the black church does not stand in the same dock as the white church before the bar of justice. Black churches were the victims rather than the guardians and perpetrators of racism in America. We do, nevertheless, accept the responsibility of the black churches to share in the remuneration of the black communities; for we recognize that it is these communities which have sustained our churches over the years. We urge the black caucuses and the black denominations to play major roles in interpreting the justness, humanness, and theological soundness of the demands of the Black Manifesto.” (Pg. 91)
John C. Bennett observes, “I was always sorry that more black leaders did not share the outrage of Martin Luther King, Jr., about the war, for---in spite of all inherited deprivations and handicaps---articulate blacks could have had considerable influence on public opinion and on the Federal Government.” (Pg. 179)
David J. Bosch notes, “Black theologians however, need to guard against equating 'God being on the side of the oppressed' with 'the oppressed being on the side of God.' According to the Bible, there is no merit in being oppressed or poor. It is by God's gracious love that he takes their side and acts for their liberation." (Pg. 234)
The Episcopal Address to the 40th Quadrennial General Conference of the AME Zion Church states, "To believe in Blackness is not to despise whiteness. To work for Black liberation is not synonymous with white alienation. We believe that it is God's will that all men should live together in a state of harmonious mutuality and creative good will." (Pg. 299)
William H. Bentley states, “As yet, there is no real Black evangelical Black Theology. This is so for several reasons. Very few Black evangelicals are even conversant with the work James Cone and others are doing. The names [Charles] Shelby Rooks, Henry Mitchell, Gayraud Wilmore, Cecil Cone, Deotis Roberts strike no familiar chord and call forth no recognition from the majority of us. And of the few who are aware of the existence of these and others, numbers of us prematurely reject what we little understand… But perhaps the most telling indictment of all is, in the eyes of a considerable number, the ‘brazenness’ of postulating ‘an ethnic brand of theology.’ For as a group, Black evangelicals believe that theology should be color blind. Black theology is therefore ‘divisive’!" (Pg. 313-314)
The editors admit, “Although Black women represent more than one-half of the population in the Black community and 75 percent of the Black Church, their experience has not been visibly present in the development of Black Theology. For the most part, Black male theologians have remained conspicuously silent on feminist theology generally and Black women in particular." (Pg. 363)
Jacquelyn Grant states, “My central argument is this: Black Theology cannot continue to treat Black Women as if they were invisible creatures who are on the outside looking into the Black experience, the Black Church, and the Black theological enterprise. It will have to deal with the community of believers in all aspects as integral parts of the whole community. Black Theology, therefore, must speak to the bishops who hide behind the statement, ‘Women don’t want women pastors.’ … It must teach the seminarians who feel that ‘women have no place in the seminary.’ It must address the women in the church and community who are content and complacent with their oppression. It must challenge the educators who would reeducate the people on every issue except the issue of the dignity and equality of women.” (Pg. 430)
In his important essay ‘Black Theology and Marxist Thought,’ Cornel West states, “Black theologians and Marxist thinkers are strangers… Needless to say, their concerns overlap. Both focus on the plight of the exploited, oppressed and degraded peoples of the world, their relative powerlessness and possible empowerment. I believe this common focus warrants a serious dialogue between Black theologians and Marxist thinkers. This dialogue… ought to be an earnest encounter that specifies clearly the different sources of their praxis of faith, yet accents the possibility of mutually arrived-at political action… I shall claim that [they] share three characteristics. (1) Both adhere to a similar methodology… (2) Both link some notion of liberation to the future socioeconomic conditions of the downtrodden. (3) … both attempt to put forward trenchant critiques of liberal capitalist America… these three traits … possibly spearhead a unifying effort for structural social change in liberal capitalist America.” (Pg. 552-553)
This collection of writings is absolutely NECESSARY for anyone seriously studying Black Theology---particularly in its historical development.
Gayraud S. Wilmore (born 1921) is an ordained Presbyterian minister who has taught at the Boston University School of Theology, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, New York Theological Seminary (where he served as dean of divinity), the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. James Hal Cone (born 1938) is an American theologian who is Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1970. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 657-page paperback edition.]
Wilmore writes in his General Introduction to this 1979 collection of essays, "A few years ago James H. Cone asked me if I had considered editing a book for seminary students that would collect and appraise the various sources for Black Theology embedded in the history and culture of our people in the Americas and West Africa... This book is, in a way, a much less ambitious version of what Professor Cone proposed... Our purpose is threefold. First, we wanted to gather together the most significant documents of the Black churches and church-related movements which would present the origin and development of Black Theology... Second, we wanted to fill out the picture with articles and essays that presented the program of Black Theology, or played a significant part in setting Black preachers and scholars in motion... Finally, it was our intention to write the kind of critical commentaries that would reflect our own personal experience as participants in what transpired." (Pg. 1-3)
They acknowledge, “Why should essays written by Black women be consigned to a separate section? The articles themselves… define the problem. Black Theology has been a Black-male-dominated enterprise and to the extent that it continues to be so, our sisters say quite clearly, it cannot be an authentic means of liberation.” (Pg. 7)
In his important essay, ‘Black Power and the American Christ,’ Vincent Harding states, “Perhaps the first and most central discovery is also the most obvious: there is a strong and causative link between Black Power and American Christianity. Indeed one may say with confidence that whatever its other sources, the ideology of blackness surely grows out of the deep ambivalence of American Negroes to the Christ we have encountered here.” (Pg. 36)
They include James Forman’s ‘Black Manifesto,’ which was read while interrupting the service at Riverside Church in New York City on May 4, 1969. The most controversial provision was probably the call for Reparations: “We are therefore demanding of the white Christian churches and Jewish synagogues… that they begin to pay reparations to black people in this country. We are demanding $500,000,000 from the Christian white churches and the Jewish synagogues. This total comes to 15 dollars per [black person]… We are demanding $500,000,000 to be spent in the following way: 1. We call for the establishment of a Southern land bank to help our brothers and sisters who have to leave their land because of racist pressure on people who want to establish cooperative farms… 2. We call for the establishment of four major publishing and printing industries … 3. We call for the establishment of four of the most advanced scientific and futuristic audio-visual networks to be located in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. … 4. We call for a research skills center which will provide research on the problems of black people… 5. We call for the establishment of a training center… 6. We recognize the role of the National Welfare Rights Organization and we intend to work with them… 7. … to establish a National Black Labor Strike and Defense Fund… 8. We call for the establishment of an International Black Appeal… 9. We call for the establishment of a Black University… 10. We demand that IFCO allocate all unused funds in the planning budget to implement the demands of this conference.” (Pg. 84-85)
In the Response of the National Committee of Black Churchmen to the ‘Black Manifesto,’ they state, “It must be clearly understood that the black church does not stand in the same dock as the white church before the bar of justice. Black churches were the victims rather than the guardians and perpetrators of racism in America. We do, nevertheless, accept the responsibility of the black churches to share in the remuneration of the black communities; for we recognize that it is these communities which have sustained our churches over the years. We urge the black caucuses and the black denominations to play major roles in interpreting the justness, humanness, and theological soundness of the demands of the Black Manifesto.” (Pg. 91)
John C. Bennett observes, “I was always sorry that more black leaders did not share the outrage of Martin Luther King, Jr., about the war, for---in spite of all inherited deprivations and handicaps---articulate blacks could have had considerable influence on public opinion and on the Federal Government.” (Pg. 179)
David J. Bosch notes, “Black theologians however, need to guard against equating 'God being on the side of the oppressed' with 'the oppressed being on the side of God.' According to the Bible, there is no merit in being oppressed or poor. It is by God's gracious love that he takes their side and acts for their liberation." (Pg. 234)
The Episcopal Address to the 40th Quadrennial General Conference of the AME Zion Church states, "To believe in Blackness is not to despise whiteness. To work for Black liberation is not synonymous with white alienation. We believe that it is God's will that all men should live together in a state of harmonious mutuality and creative good will." (Pg. 299)
William H. Bentley states, “As yet, there is no real Black evangelical Black Theology. This is so for several reasons. Very few Black evangelicals are even conversant with the work James Cone and others are doing. The names [Charles] Shelby Rooks, Henry Mitchell, Gayraud Wilmore, Cecil Cone, Deotis Roberts strike no familiar chord and call forth no recognition from the majority of us. And of the few who are aware of the existence of these and others, numbers of us prematurely reject what we little understand… But perhaps the most telling indictment of all is, in the eyes of a considerable number, the ‘brazenness’ of postulating ‘an ethnic brand of theology.’ For as a group, Black evangelicals believe that theology should be color blind. Black theology is therefore ‘divisive’!" (Pg. 313-314)
The editors admit, “Although Black women represent more than one-half of the population in the Black community and 75 percent of the Black Church, their experience has not been visibly present in the development of Black Theology. For the most part, Black male theologians have remained conspicuously silent on feminist theology generally and Black women in particular." (Pg. 363)
Jacquelyn Grant states, “My central argument is this: Black Theology cannot continue to treat Black Women as if they were invisible creatures who are on the outside looking into the Black experience, the Black Church, and the Black theological enterprise. It will have to deal with the community of believers in all aspects as integral parts of the whole community. Black Theology, therefore, must speak to the bishops who hide behind the statement, ‘Women don’t want women pastors.’ … It must teach the seminarians who feel that ‘women have no place in the seminary.’ It must address the women in the church and community who are content and complacent with their oppression. It must challenge the educators who would reeducate the people on every issue except the issue of the dignity and equality of women.” (Pg. 430)
In his important essay ‘Black Theology and Marxist Thought,’ Cornel West states, “Black theologians and Marxist thinkers are strangers… Needless to say, their concerns overlap. Both focus on the plight of the exploited, oppressed and degraded peoples of the world, their relative powerlessness and possible empowerment. I believe this common focus warrants a serious dialogue between Black theologians and Marxist thinkers. This dialogue… ought to be an earnest encounter that specifies clearly the different sources of their praxis of faith, yet accents the possibility of mutually arrived-at political action… I shall claim that [they] share three characteristics. (1) Both adhere to a similar methodology… (2) Both link some notion of liberation to the future socioeconomic conditions of the downtrodden. (3) … both attempt to put forward trenchant critiques of liberal capitalist America… these three traits … possibly spearhead a unifying effort for structural social change in liberal capitalist America.” (Pg. 552-553)
This collection of writings is absolutely NECESSARY for anyone seriously studying Black Theology---particularly in its historical development.
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