Founder of Black Liberation Theology Dies

[DonViejo]

Source: Newsweek Magazine




WHO WAS JAMES CONE? FOUNDER OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY DIES

BY MARIA VULTAGGIO ON 4/28/18 AT 12:13 PM

Rev. Dr. James Cone, who founded Black Liberation Theology, died Saturday, politics and faith reporter Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons tweeted. The Union Seminary professor was 81 years old. A cause of death was not immediately known.

Cone was inspired by civil-rights activism in the 1960s. He cited Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, as “mainly a theology that sees God as concerned with the poor and the weak” during a 2008 interview with NPR.

The basis behind black liberation theology was to show how the gospel related to people of color in a world that was dominated by whites. He wanted “to teach people how to be both unapologetically black and Christian at the same time,” he said in 2008.

Dr. Cone wrote more than a dozen books, but was best known for his works like Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), God of the Oppressed (1975) and of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? (1991). His books were translated into nine languages. His final book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, was a best-seller on Amazon in February 2012 and won the 2012 Nautilus Silver Award in Religion/Spirituality-Western Traditions.



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/who-was-cause-death-james-cone-theology-black-905098

[Nonhlanhla]

1. Rest in peace

For those of us who work in the field of religion, he was a giant. His book, "God of the Oppressed" stands as a landmark in American religious thinking, and his recent "The Cross and the Lynching Tree" was awarded one of the highest prizes in theology, the Grawemeier Award. He was indeed the father of American Black Theology.

He famously said that "any theology that is indifferent to the theme of liberation is not Christian theology." His Christianity stood in direct opposition to the shallow and twisted white evangelicalism that helped to elect the current White House occupant.

May his spirit live on in others who work for liberation and justice.

[duhneece]

2. The title alone, 'The Cross & the Lynching Tree'

...makes me weep.

[Scruffy1]

3. He was a giant in a time of dwarfs.

When you look around this country and see what passes for religion it's enough to make you scream. I think I'll pull out Solomon Burke singing "None of US Are Free As Long As One Of Us In Chains".

[ck4829]

4. RIP

[liberalhistorian]

5. I am an older white lady who wlll be

graduating from a progressive, liberal seminary a week from today (that is, if I ever get off the intertubes and finish what's left of my damned work, LOL) and Cone was one of the theological giants I was pleased to be introduced to and to study at length. He ripped the lid off of the mainstream oppressive theologies, exposing their foundations and institutional structures of unbiblical racial superiority, oppression and hate. What a refreshing eye-opening to read biblical texts through his black liberation theology lens. It was one of the many things that has made me a liberation theologian. A tremendous loss in so many ways, but my classmates and professors and I, as well as countless others, remain grateful for his scholarship and his life.

[Devil Child]

6. Rest In Peace