A Black Theology Of Liberation Summary

“I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ‘devil’”.

In Chapter 3, Douglas presents three different theological perspectives of the Black Christ. Albert Cleage, James Cone, and J. Deotis Roberts discuss the idea of Christ being Black. Cleage presents, “the most provocative version of Christ’s Blackness” (55). His argument is theoretical in the utmost sense of God as flesh representing Black Americans, but suggesting that Jesus was actually, “…the Black son of a Black Israelite woman and of a Black God” (56). It is of the upmost necessity for Jesus to be ethnically Black to Cleage because of, “…his role as pastor, his understanding of the Black church, and his ties to Black nationalism” (56). Because Cleage views Christ as literally Black, he is not forced to

Furthermore, the chapter discussed the religion of Christianity, which is not the correct religion of a black man in America. History have shown that Christianity was used as an inferior strategy toward African Americans. In chapter 2, there is a connection between Christianity and the Jim Crow segregation. The author would go on to elaborate on the qualities of fear, as fear is produced by a dominant group who justified obedience and order. The society that a person lives in also determines their social status, as in a hierarchy. The book suggested that society is a place that enforces the oppression of colored people. Jesus was the disinherited and the oppressed, whereas he had to find a means of survival.

David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in particular, and very expressly to those of the United States of America, “promoted racial solidarity and moral elevation with fervor,” and is as much a political source as it is religious. His Appeal adamantly argues against oppression and slavery while encouraging a vivacious and lively spirit amongst the black community, in the hopes of promoting unity and diminishing the acceptance of mistreatment from their white counterparts. To convey this message, which was presented in a mannerism that was extremely radical, Walker uses the bible and what can most clearly be defined as a Methodist theology to support his stance on the issues of society.

followed. Cone frames a theology of liberation from within the context of the Black experience

He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.

The society that was made by racial bias has made a “string of work camps and prisons strung across a vast country housing millions of people drawn mainly from classes and racial groups that are seen as politically and economically problematic.” (3) Loury’s explanation of how prisons work today is a fact that no should feel good about themselves. However, Loury makes people feel more shameful and guilty by saying the actions we made are connected to Christ. Loury explains that when someone has committed a crime, the normal reaction of someone will be pointing fingers, “You see that fellow over there committing some terrible sins?” (6) Loury uses Christ as an example to show the reader that no matter who he or she is, everyone is the same and has committed some sort of sin, “Well, if you have ever lusted, or allowed jealousy, or envy or hatred to enter your own heart, then you are to be equally condemned!” (6)

Many people believe that Christians played a great role in abolishing slavery. However, Douglass’ ideas about religion and its connection to slavery shine a light on the dark side of Christianity. Douglass’ account of his own life is a very eloquent first hand retelling of the suffering and cruelty that many slaves were going through. His account gives a detail of the ills that were committed against the slaves. The atrocities committed by the various different masters varied in intensity depending on the masters’ individual personality (Glancy 42). This first hand narrative gives us a glimpse in to the connection between religion (Christianity) and slavery.

For almost eight decades, enslaved African-Americans living in the Antebellum South, achieved their freedom in various ways—one being religion—before the demise of the institution of slavery. It was “freedom, rather than slavery, [that] proved the greatest force for conversion among African Americans in the South” (94). Starting with the Great Awakening and continuing long after the abolition of slavery, after decades of debate, scholars conceptualized the importance of religion for enslaved African-Americans as a means of escaping the brutalities of daily life. Overall, Christianity helped enslaved African American resist the degradation

This theme helps illuminate how black people came to be treated in America both when slavery existed and beyond into today’s society. The theme that black people are disposable bodies within American society. Because of the tradition of treating black people as objects or whose value strictly came from their ability to make profit, the idea of what it means to be black in America is imbedded in the danger of losing one’s body. Although slavery has ended, the racism remains as a violence inflicted on black people’s bodies. Coates is more than happy to emphasize that racism is an instinctive practice.

Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of

Christianity was new to most slaves who had been abducted from their native country and taken to the Americas. Some were hesitant to abandon their old traditions for the Christ their white captors taught of, but after several generations of slavery, most black slaves had succumbed to relentless preaching. However, the Christianity that took hold within the slave community was often interpreted differently, conveying different messages to pockets of slave population. The use of Christianity in slavery was a double edged sword, creating not only a tool for control, but a weapon of discontent in slave communities. Examining the works of Richard Allen and the stories of Nat Turner, create a narrative of how Christianity was applied differently to slaves.

Christianity provided African American slaves with hope, because although they were suffering as merely human instruments of work, God was watching them and all of theirs suffering would be rewarded by him. “Slavery, with all its

One of Cone’s most significant assertions is the declaration of God’s ontological blackness. This very strong standpoint has been taken to emphasize the fact that God stands with the oppressed. For this same reason, in a society where oppression is associated with color of the skin, God could never be colorless (Floyd and Pinn 21). Throughout the history of Christianity, God and Jesus Christ have always been depicted as white as one way to justify the oppression of African Americans and the supremacy of white people. To assert that God and Jesus are black also serves as a way to remind people of the injustices committed against black people. Indeed, Jesus was marginalized by the Jews, just like black people have been marginalized by the caucasian dominant community. Jesus was also killed as he was trying to subvert an unjust social order, just like many black people have been killed while trying to subvert white supremacy. This is also the reason why Cone compares the cross of Jesus with lynching trees. Another very interesting point made by Cone that strictly relates to the context of oppression from which Black theology was raised is the belief that since all humans are made in the image and likeness of God, none of them is created to be oppressed, but they are all meant for freedom. This also links to the theme of salvation which Cone identifies with liberation, and is seen in terms of bringing about the kingdom of God, heaven, which is also earthly, and that is the place

James H. Cone is widely known as a pioneer and advocate of Black Theology. Being able to get an education in the U.S, I have undoubtedly been introduced to Black Power and Black Theology concepts as being center to the African-American empowerment movement. Indeed, I found the Black Liberation Theology perspectives unbelievably intriguing and unique, not only because such concepts would have nothing to do with my culture or my country’s historical evolution, but also because the opposite could absolutely hold true as well. Black Liberation Theology could perfectly be attributed to Moldovans’ fight for their own history, nationality and independence during the communist oppression era.