The enslaved African sang because they saw the results of the cross—triumph over the principalities and powers of death, triumph over evil in this world.
I’ll never understand this. What did the crucifixion (or resurrection, for that matter) do to triumph over anything? The world remained as fucked up as it always was and will be, human evil continued to result in human suffering and even horrific death. The only thing I see here is the hope in an afterlife that no one can know is real. What good is a mythical death and resurrection that offers only mythical redemption in a mythical world beyond this one?
Of course, this question is easy to answer if you believe in heaven. But if you don’t, like me, some huge percentage of Cone’s entire argument falls apart. Maybe not all of it, but enough that even adjacent arguments are weakened.
