Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Black Liberation Theology - A Conversation with James Cone

James Cone is one of the fathers of Black Liberation Theology. While you might not agree with everything he has to say keep in mind I'm not proselytizing! But since we've been encouraged to engage in this dialog about race and everyone wants to know why Black preachers teach the way the do, let the scholar break it down for you!




Can't wait to see your comments :)
**keep it civil please**

4 comments:

Unknown said...

This piece by James Cone is fantastic. It gives a great historical overview on Black Liberation Theology. I would like to see much more of the preaching and theology of Rev. Dr. Wright. This is the best antidote to the controversy over two minutes of sound bits taken out of context. Is there any way to get a lot more Wright sermon material uploaded. I think that the importance of this cannot be overstated. What is possible? How can I help?

Anonymous said...

You are doing incredibly great work on this site and not only regarding the Rev Wright issue. I come back frequently to see what's new. I am getting an incredible education on the whole African American Christian thing. I myself am a politically aware and very well-educated white American Jew, in my fifties, and man there is so much stuff we never were taught in school about African American history and culture. Thank you so so much and God bless.

Hagar's Daughter said...

Lord, Lord, Lord! The professor made it plain.
I will feast on this for a long time.

Blessings

Anonymous said...

CONE: If God is not for us and against white people, then He is a murderer, and we had better kill him.


You can excuse it all you want - but there's more slant towards Hitler and his Aryian philosophy in that statement than Jesus in his preaching of love and understanding. You can philosophize and use whatever crutch you want to get through life and blame Whitey for all your troubles, but if you really love Jesus than you wouldn't care if He was white or black. Ask Jesus if He cares what color your skin is. Down to the basic question - was Jesus a European white man? Hardly possible. Should his common image be altered in this society? Yes - but his public image is not what we should be worshiping.

It's your turn to get over it and move on - most whites already have, whether you believe it or not.

Focus on major issues - one of the worst being poor educational systems in urban zones. 25% graduation rate in areas of Detroit! That's insane, and 99% of the people you inform will agree that's it's a huge problem - regardless of their race/religion/background/wealth. If you attack that issue, without regard to race, then I'm on your side and will bleed with you. If you think there are people here today that are plotting to destroy the black race and this is an example of it - then you're wrong. Think of this - even if you're right, you're wrong. If you're right, then it's a powerful force that can eat you for lunch. If you're wrong, you are spending your precious few resources in the wrong area.

Either way - focus on the problem, not the conspiracy, without mentioning the color of people's skins. Focus on the social condition of all races that are failing to receive what they deserve based on their social-economic status.

If you bring race into any discussion, you can bring in conflict. If everyone works together on known issues that everyone agrees on then we all come together.

The only consipiracy I subscribe to is Power holds onto Power and only desires More. Power is colorless. e.g. Power wants 1/2 the country Pro-Life and 1/2 the country Pro-Choice so that everyone argues and can be distracted while their wealth, future, and freedom is stolen.