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mxbenjaminrose's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
gjones19's review
5.0
I really appreciate Cone’s emphasis on God identifying with and in the oppressed and his passionate argument for understanding Jesus through the black experience in America. This book is a good introduction to Black Liberation Theology.
dbg108's review
5.0
Cone narrates white oppression while interpreting history and theology from the perspective of the black experience. God is black because God identifies with the plight of black people. God sides with the oppressed and opposes the oppressor; therefore, God sides with blacks and opposes whites. Whites must be converted to blackness to receive and announce the gospel, to be saved.
I personally wrestled with these ideas while reading. I have many questions, but I'm increasingly convinced that Christianity must be the liberating presence and acts of God. This means I must own and deal with my whiteness and the systemic white supremacy that sustains it. I don't feel guilty for being white. I simply can't continue to reap the benefits of whiteness while calling myself a follower of Jesus. This is difficult.
For those not interested in a theological book, I would encourage reading a simple summary of Cone's work and consider the implications.
I personally wrestled with these ideas while reading. I have many questions, but I'm increasingly convinced that Christianity must be the liberating presence and acts of God. This means I must own and deal with my whiteness and the systemic white supremacy that sustains it. I don't feel guilty for being white. I simply can't continue to reap the benefits of whiteness while calling myself a follower of Jesus. This is difficult.
For those not interested in a theological book, I would encourage reading a simple summary of Cone's work and consider the implications.
grasonpoling's review
4.0
(4.5/5)
A Black Theology of Liberation is a distillation of raw emotion and a tightly-developed theology. In compelling terms, Cone tells the Black Christian community to take the Gospel and life of Jesus specifically to heart with action. Their long-suffering, perpetuated by the implicit and explicit racism of white America and the particularly nagging silence and apathy of white Christians, is *exactly* why Jesus offers liberation.
Cone offers effectively no comfort for white readers, and to a greater degree, white Christian readers (for our stagnation is great). It’s a call to see all the depth of our clinging and to open our hands to what this new understanding of the gospel offers for us and to join in the liberation effort.
A Black Theology of Liberation is a distillation of raw emotion and a tightly-developed theology. In compelling terms, Cone tells the Black Christian community to take the Gospel and life of Jesus specifically to heart with action. Their long-suffering, perpetuated by the implicit and explicit racism of white America and the particularly nagging silence and apathy of white Christians, is *exactly* why Jesus offers liberation.
Cone offers effectively no comfort for white readers, and to a greater degree, white Christian readers (for our stagnation is great). It’s a call to see all the depth of our clinging and to open our hands to what this new understanding of the gospel offers for us and to join in the liberation effort.
birdy1luv's review
4.0
A revolutionary (in all the senses) way of doing theology. It fundamentally shifts the priority question of theology from "Does God exist?" to "Where is God in the midst of suffering?" And makes no bones about saying this is a shift from white theology to black theology. AND makes a strong case that black theology is closer to the way that theology ought to be done.
The major thought I'm left with is that there is no other place where God is for God's people than where they are suffering. And as a result, this profoundly changes what we value as followers of Jesus and what side we stand on.
This one is going to stay with me for a while.
The major thought I'm left with is that there is no other place where God is for God's people than where they are suffering. And as a result, this profoundly changes what we value as followers of Jesus and what side we stand on.
This one is going to stay with me for a while.
randalljgreene's review
3.0
A landmark book for its time, this work is difficult to translate into our current social context.
tdwightdavis's review
5.0
This is maybe the most challenging work of theology I've read. Cone writes clearly, and while it's not as technically hard as many books I've read, the challenge Cone presents to theology as a discipline to overcome it's whiteness is scathing and demands to be taken seriously.
The thesis of Cone's work is that God is most in solidarity with oppressed people, in this case with the black population of the United States. Cone expands on this by explicating each of the primary doctrines of Christian theology in light of the struggle for black liberation. Many of his positions are helpful and challenging.
I have a few problems with the text, but they are relatively minor. I feel that Cone is too indebted to Tillich and existential notions of sin. I think that this weakness is a profound one in that it does not take seriously sin as a state of being.
Those few critiques are not to say that this book isn't helpful and incredibly important. To ignore the voice of James Cone is to allow the discipline of theology to become irrelevant.
EDIT 9/29/16
This is my third time through this book and it never gets any easier. I find myself constantly challenged by Cone's thought. Looking back on the first time I read this three years ago in a pre-Ferguson pre-#blacklivesmatter world, it's amazing to see that Cone's critiques of whiteness and white supremacy are just as relevant today as they were in 1969. I also look back and see what a profound influence Cone had on my own theology, to the point where I think he represents something of a seismic shift in my thought. I can no longer do theology that doesn't aim at liberating the oppressed and critiquing structures of power. I still have my issues with Cone, but I no longer feel as comfortable making them as explicitly as I once did. These days I find myself more interested in sitting under Cone's teaching and learning, all the while trying to convert out of my whiteness and into a more authentic existence of solidarity with the oppressed.
The thesis of Cone's work is that God is most in solidarity with oppressed people, in this case with the black population of the United States. Cone expands on this by explicating each of the primary doctrines of Christian theology in light of the struggle for black liberation. Many of his positions are helpful and challenging.
I have a few problems with the text, but they are relatively minor. I feel that Cone is too indebted to Tillich and existential notions of sin. I think that this weakness is a profound one in that it does not take seriously sin as a state of being.
Those few critiques are not to say that this book isn't helpful and incredibly important. To ignore the voice of James Cone is to allow the discipline of theology to become irrelevant.
EDIT 9/29/16
This is my third time through this book and it never gets any easier. I find myself constantly challenged by Cone's thought. Looking back on the first time I read this three years ago in a pre-Ferguson pre-#blacklivesmatter world, it's amazing to see that Cone's critiques of whiteness and white supremacy are just as relevant today as they were in 1969. I also look back and see what a profound influence Cone had on my own theology, to the point where I think he represents something of a seismic shift in my thought. I can no longer do theology that doesn't aim at liberating the oppressed and critiquing structures of power. I still have my issues with Cone, but I no longer feel as comfortable making them as explicitly as I once did. These days I find myself more interested in sitting under Cone's teaching and learning, all the while trying to convert out of my whiteness and into a more authentic existence of solidarity with the oppressed.