Cones Black Theology - Essay Example

America experienced social turmoil and racial discord during the 1960s. Black Americans rejected segregation and discrimination, unprosecuted racial violence, and second-class citizenship as status quo. Some believed that peaceful marches and nonviolent sit-ins would accomplish racial equality. Others argued that oppressors will never willingly grant equality. Therefore, it must be demanded, and if necessary, taken by force. As a result, the civil rights era, black power movement, protestors, segregation, bombings, murders, marches, assassinations, racism, the calling up of the National Guard, and riots are all images that evoke the historical period of the 1950s and 1960s. In the midst of this turbulent period, a relatively unknown theologian from a rural town in Arkansas emerged to confront the abstract and irrelevant definitions of white mainstream theology and to speak to the social conditions of black Americans. James Cone has been called "the father" of black theology, "the leading exponent of black theology," and the "premier black theologian" (Burrow, 1993, p. 1). Grenz and Olson (1992, p. 206) acknowledge, "Cone was able to emerge as an important voice for the new Black theology in part because he shared the plight of Blacks through his upbringing in the South. This qualified him to understand their feelings and speak on their behalf. At the same time, his voice was significant because he had obtained the academic credentials necessary to gain a hearing in the largely White-dominated theological circle." Cone wrote the first systematic treatment of black theology. His books, articles, and lectures launched black liberation theology into the national and international theological arena. As Hopkins (2002, p. 16) argues, "I believe he was the first person in the history of the United States to position liberation of the poor as the central and foundational preaching and teaching of Jesus And Cone was one of two people in the world to first write books on liberation theology." To better contextualise this assessment, it would be pertinent to point out that Hopkins (2002, p. 14) defines black liberation theology as "the name given to a movement created by a group of African American pastors in the late 1960s who felt that the gospel of Jesus Christ had a positive message for black people." Arguably, there were three historic events that provided the context for the formation of black theology as a movement: (1) the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, associated with Martin Luther King Jr., (2) the publication of Joseph Washington's book, Black Religion: The Negro and Christianity in the United States (1964), and (3) the rise of the black power movement, strongly influenced by Malcolm X's philosophy of black nationalism (Burrow, 1993). In the 1960s, the notoriety of the civil rights movement emerged under the leadership and direction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He confronted racism and discrimination using a social-oriented theology and a nonviolent method of protest. His pastoral concern and academic training gave a theological and biblical voice to the debilitating implications of racial oppression. Second, Joseph Washington's (1964) book Black Religion was one of the major writings to argue that black religion is not identical to white Protestantism or any other expression of Euro-American Christianity. "Rejecting the thesis of earlier studies that viewed Black religion as one aspect of the broader category of North American Protestantism, Washington asserted that it was actually a distinctive phenomenon in North American religious life" (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 204). Finally, with the influence of Malcolm X, phrases like "black nationalism," "black pride," and "black power" emerged to raise black consciousness and reclaim black identity in American society. The three historical benchmarks - the civil rights movement, Black Religion, and the black power movement -provided the context in which black theology emerged as a formal theological movement. King's theological voice merged with Malcolm's Black Nationalism to construct a theology oriented towards black people (Burrow, 1993). While it is difficult to impose a single definition on black theology because of its numerous strands and wide spectrum of tenets from modem to radical, Cone and Wilmore (1993, p. 370) define it as "that theology which arises out of the need to articulate the religious significance of [the] Black presence in a hostile White world. It is Black people reflecting on the Black experience under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, attempting to redefine the relevance of the Christian gospel for their lives." Black theology deals with the relationship between the experiences of African Americans and the ability of their Christian faith to speak to their socio-economic oppression. As Cone (1993, p. 106) writes, "Black theology puts black identity into a theological context, showing that black power is not only consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ: it is the gospel of Jesus Christ." The civil rights movement created the context, and King provided a model for combining Christianity and social justice. According to Cone (1997, p. 108), "King saw clearly the meaning of the gospel with its social implications and sought to instill its true spirit in the hearts and minds of blacks and white in this land." His protest-based theology and social transformation contributed to the Christian orientation of Cone's theology. As Hennelly (1995, p. 91) writes, I would stress that the founder and major leader of this liberation theology was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and that the beginning of the contemporary black liberation theology can be traced to December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, tired from a day's work as a seamstress, sat down in a bus seat reserved for whites in Montgomery, Alabama . I would prefer to call this the 'liberation movement'; King's demonstrations, imprisonments, speeches, and sermons were the quintessential model of liberation praxis, practice refined by theory and theory animated by the experience of practice, a strategy that King used consistently for the remaining thirteen years of his life. Unlike his predecessors or successors, King demonstrated the theological underpinning of the civil rights movement. He called it a "spiritual movement," "a spiritual struggle," and a "Christian movement" (King, 1997, pp. 200-201). King confronted racism and discrimination using a theology-based method, distinguishing his creative greatness among twentieth century theologians (Richardson, 1969; Hannigan, 1984). He argued that the ideals of civil rights-human equality, social justice, and racial integration-were compatible with Christianity. Indeed, King uniquely incorporated black religious protest into a theological framework for his public rhetoric on racial injustice. Thus, King's theology confronted racial segregation by intertwining democratic values of freedom and equality, the Exodus's liberation motif, and the Hebraic prophets' call for justice and righteousness. He criticized America's moral hypocrisy and constitutional inconsistencies based on "a democratic socialism informed by his Christianity" (Cowen, 2003, p. 59). King believed that the church's social ineffectiveness resulted from an insidious imbalance between the pursuit of heavenly virtues and earthly social responsibility. He witnessed this imbalance in Montgomery, Alabama prior to the bus boycott: "too many had remained aloof from the area of social responsibility. Much of this indifference, it is true, stemmed from a sincere feeling that ministers were not supposed to get mixed up in such earthly, temporal matters as social and economic improvement; they were to 'preach the gospel,' and keep men's minds centred on the 'heavenly.' But however sincere, this view of religion, I felt, was too confined" (King, 1958, p. 35). Therefore, "my sermons," King said, "sought to bring the Christian message to bear on the social evils that cloud our day " (King, 1963, p. 7). King addressed Christianity's social irrelevancy with a protest-based theology that focused on the social conditions of the oppressed. He sought to reconcile America by a socio-political presentation of the gospel. Christians who fight for racial justice and reject segregation and discrimination follow the example established by Christ. As King (1958, p. 36) said: The Christian ought always to be challenged by any protest against unfair treatment of the poor, for Christianity is itself such a protest, nowhere expressed more eloquently than in Jesus' words: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. King recognized the relationship between theology and social engagement. Theology cannot be disconnected from social transformation. For King, the gospel requires the church to interact in the fight against injustice. In this way, King modelled his theology after the ministry of the Old Testament prophets, rooted in the character of God's righteousness and based on Christ's ministry of liberation. As Evans (1986, p. 78) writes, "King did not separate his political views from his theological perspective. What he saw as the ideal social and political arrangement flowed from what he believed about the activity of God in history. One could say that, for King, one's theology and one's politics were two sides of the same coin. Thus, the corollary to his social vision and worldview was his theology." Martin Luther King Jr. made public his unwavering conviction that the Christian faith had to address economic disparity, racial discrimination, and social oppression. The Christian faith possessed the power to transform society, reconcile races, and heal hearts from hatred. Thus, King laid the foundation for the development of black theology (Garber, 1974). As Cone (1990, p. 49) stated, "He [King] has communicated the Christian message of freedom more effectively, prophetically, and creatively than anyone in the U.S. before or after him. He was a liberation theologian before African-Americans and Latin Americans began to use the term to describe their reflections about God from the perspective of the poor." King's socially conscious theology advanced two ideas: protest and social justice (Cone, 1990). Cone (1984, p. 53) understood King's protest theology as a "systematic and comprehensive exposition of the Christian faith using the black experience of struggle as the chief source. There were no black systematic theologies that black theologians could model." Therefore, King created a model for black theologians that would apply the gospel to social change. Within the context of the stated, it is apparent that black theology's content (the gospel message of liberation) and its goal (freedom and hope) originated, in part, from King's socially conscious theology. King established a theological paradigm for equating the gospel message with social transformation. For him, there was no dichotomy between Christianity and justice. Consequently, "King was our model," Cone (1977, p. 148) said, "having creatively combined religion and politics, and black preachers and theologians respected his courage to concretize the political consequences of his confession of faith." King and the civil rights movement established a theological ethos that shaped Cone's perspective on the social application of Christianity. He laid the foundation upon which Cone built black theology's social relevancy. As Cone (1990, p. 83) understood it, " the ministry of Martin King showed me that no interpretation of the Christian faith could be valid without an engagement of the issues of justice in the society and the world." Proceeding from the above stated, it is appropriate to conclude this research with the affirmation that Cone's black theology was deeply influenced and informed by Martin Luther King's theological precepts and philosophies. That does not means to say that his embrace of King dictated rejection of Malcolm X for, as Cone himself has repeatedly emphasized, his black theology is grounded upon an appreciation of both. Indeed, Cone saw potential strengths and weaknesses in both Martin's and Malcolm's approaches. On the one hand, Cone affirmed King's theological approach to racial justice, asserting that King was correct that Christianity was compatible with the fight for social justice. King articulated a socially-relevant gospel that contained a message of freedom and liberation. On the other hand, Cone saw two flaws in King's theology. Cone believed that King did not understand the complexities of racism in America, and he did not adequately advocate for a black identity. Accordingly, Cone turned to Malcolm X for a sense of black identity. Malcolm taught Cone that the struggle for freedom was inextricably linked to blackness. In addition, Malcolm revealed to Cone the psychological damage inflicted upon black Americans, increasing the need for a black religion that starts with the experiences of black people. According to Cone, religions could not be developed independent from the black experience and this is precisely where Malcolm X influenced him. By merging King and Malcolm X's strengths, Cone argued for a synthesis in Christian faith that elevated black experience. His black theology is the outcome of the aforementioned. Bibliography Burrow, R. (1993) James H. Cone and Black Liberation Theology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Cone, J.H. (1977) Black Theology and the Black Church: Where Do We Go From Here Cross Currents, 27(1977): 147-56. Cone, J. H. and Wilmore, G.S. (1983) Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Cone, J.H. (1984) For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Cone, J.H. (1990) Two Roads to Freedom: Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. Bangalore Theological Forum, 22(2): 41-61. Cone, J.H. and Wilmore, G.S. (1993) Black Theology and African Theology: Consideration for Dialogue, Critique, and Integration" in Black Theology: A Documentary History 1966-1979, ed. James H. Cone and Gayraud S. Wilmore, vol. 1. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993. Cone, J. H. (1993) Black Theology and Black Liberation in Black Theology: A Documentary History 1966-1979, ed. James H. Cone and Gayraud S. Wilmore, vol. 1. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993. Cone, J.H. (1997) Black Theology and Black Power. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Cowan, R. (2003) Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption. Cambridge: Polity. Evans, J. H., Jr. (1986) Keepers of the Dream: The Black Church and Martin Luther King Jr. American Baptist Quarterly 5 (March): 75-84. Garber, P. R. (1974) King was a Black Theologian. Union Seminary Quarterly Review, 31 (fall-winter): 16-32. Grenz, S.J. and Olson, R.E. (1992) 20th Century Theology: God and World in a Transitional Age (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. Hanigan, J. P. (1984) Martin Luther King Jr. and the Foundations of Nonviolence. Latham, MD: University Press of America. Hennelly, A. T. (1995) Liberation Theologies: The Global Pursuit of Justice. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications. Hopkins, D.N. (2002) Heart and Head: Black Theology, Past Present and Future. New York: St. Martin's Press. King Jr., M.L. (1958) The Current Crisis in Race Relations. New South (1958): 8- 12. King, M.L. Jr. (1958) Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. San Francisco: Harper and Row. King, M. L. Jr. (1963) The Negro is Your Brother. Atlantic (1963): 78-88. King Jr., M.L. (1997) The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. vol. 3. Berkeley: University of California Press. Richardson, H.W. (1969) Martin Luther King-Unsung Theologian, in New Theology, ed. Martin E. Marty and Dean G. Peerman. New York: Macmillan. Read More