Black Theology and Black Power

This book is a worthy read. It was good enough that I had to cite it in my book: The Real Wakandas of Africa: Dr. John Henrik Clarke vs. Herman Cain. The real value in this book is how it shaped the perspective of many black churches in America. In fact, it should be mandatory reading for every leader of a black church. The author maps a framework that was considered to be cutting edge for the churches of his day. This author was impacted by leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In fact, he has another book on these leaders. Surely, this book was influenced by his perspective on these two great black men. You’ll find this work provides both a home for black Christian thought and a framework for the worship of christianity in the black community. However, you might not agree with every idea. As with any work that attempts to forge a new ideology, a certain dogma can come along with that ideology. Indeed, this is needed in many arenas that impact black people. Nevertheless, this book is a classic and an important read. If you wish to understand more about ways in which to improve the black community through the church, this book is fundamental. It is a must read!

Characteristics and values fundamental to understanding these concepts are laid down in a manner that is unambiguously easy to understand. What the author prioritizes is to highlight the worthiness of being black and the importance of feeling proud that one is black, blackness here is confined within the boundaries defined by a black man himself, not by a white man. Knowing the characteristics of a true black man will inadvertently lead one to understand how black theology should be applied in revitalizing one's true calling in this world. People make people to be slaves or second class citizens, but what another man things of you is not your true calling. Very good book, I would recommend this book for any novice of advanced person seeking to understand his true calling, his being black (also white people can read it, it will help them rectify their mistakes or change their course in how they treat non-whites).

This classic by James Cone is a challenge to anyone who thinks it is easy to be Christian in America. It should be read by all white people. The god of the bible is the god of oppressed people. Ask yourself who is oppressed in america. Follow that question to its logical conclusion and you will see why this book is a must read.

James Cone’s initial foray into the intentional development of a black theology ought be required reading for any serious Christian theologian. It challenges long-standing Christian claims by challenging not so much the claims themselves, but the racist presuppositions to those claims. The language is contextual, I suspect, offensive to many. But the language is effective in illuminating the racist presuppositions. Read with a critical eye, one can indeed find under-developed theological claims that could bear sharpened revision. But as with any first revolutionary theological work, the brilliance lies in the courageous and compelling insight that demands personal reflection and dare I say ... theological modification.

I bought this for my uncle who is a pastor but he also loves James Cole.

It is prophetic for it continues to in the here and now. The language is harsh and often accusatory. Great amount of time spent on the oppressor...but not so much on the oppressor with blacks themselves. I do believe White mite learn a thing or two about black oppression. I do believe black should refresh our memory of the need to come together as a nation of the same hue to give America a clue about the blacks from God's point of view.

Glad I purchased this book for my collection. Great information. Knowledge is power.

Okay, so this was written in the 60’s at the height of the civil rights movement. Given that, you might expect the arguments to be a little dated. Not so. This reflects brilliance of Cone and the failure of America to make real progress. I found Cone’s book to be a damning comment on today’s churches. As a white Protestant I’m ashamed that my church hasn’t embraced more of Cone’s argument. As a Lutheran, we’ve done better than most, but we have more to do. Professor Cone’s work should be required reading for all seminarians and church leaders.

This is an audaciously courageous book. James H Cone passionately proclaims the truth of Black Power and provides a thrilling theological framework for understanding a liberated Blackness! Black Theology and Black Power remains an irresistible call to action.

evaluation of 4/5 because the book was not delivered on time. book content is excellent. Thus, would recommend book anytime again.

I bought the book for someone who needs it for school, it will definitely be helpful.

James H Cone's 'Black Theology and Black Power' is one of the foundation documents of 'Black Theology', it is also very much a piece of writing of its time. Yet with this in mind, it is also a badly written and incoherent book, one that mistakes incandescent rage for coherent theological thinking, leaving one with an unreadable and incoherent theological treatise which is much to the detriment of Black Theology. The main thesis of Cone's work is that for a long period of time white people have seen black people as 'its' (things, as opposed to people, or as he puts it, 'it' rather than 'thou'). The message of Black Theology is, for Cone, to reverse that trend, to ensure that black people see themselves (and are seen as 'thou' as opposed to 'it'). A process described, at some length, in Edward Said's 'Orientalism'. Unfortunately what Cone actually does is to turn white people from 'thou' to 'it' by making them the subject of 'Black Theology's' rage, assuming that white people are a homogenous whole. In this he uses inverse racism*, making white people as the 'created and despised other' within Cone's theological imagination. Cone's theology is incoherent as he allows his rage to get the better of him, dispensing with theological form or thinking and allowing his rants to get the better of him. Thus, whilst he is able to provide an analysis of the situation as he sees it, he is provides no articulated theological response, merely a repetition of the idea that sin and salvation are caught up in the colour of one's skin, rather than one's behaviour. In this, Cone sets himself up as a demi-god, dispensing salvation on his own terms, rather than those of the Bible. There is also an element of Pelagianism in this (as there is in some of his other books), where white people are told that salvation will only come through right action, without any reference to the Cross or to Grace. He does, however, acknowledge that Jesus is to be found amongst the poor and dispossessed, rather than amongst the rich and powerful (a theme within theologies of liberation, of which Black Theology is but one). The incoherence of this text continues in that Cone claims that it is for black rather than white readers, yet spends much of his time talking directly to and castigating his white readers. It is almost as though Cone does not know who his audience is, or is unwilling to allow his white readership the right of response. * Though Cone would argue that Black people cannot be racist, because they lack the power to be racist. Which itself both disempowering of his black readers, if not also linguistic nonsense!