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milkbadger's review against another edition
2.0
A product of the black power movement, Cone's theological perspective is closer to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King. For me, the most interesting question raised by reading the book is why Cone's militant thinking has become so marginal over the course of the past thirty-five years, in spite of the persistence of black/white inequality?
abbyarkansas's review against another edition
5.0
“Liberation is nothing but putting into practice the reality of human freedom.” - James Cone
moreteamorecats's review
4.0
By spring of 1969, James Cone had two substantial works under his belt: a dissertation on [a:Karl Barth|23117|Karl Barth|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1225048594p2/23117.jpg], and the mad-as-hell instant classic [b:Black Theology and Black Power|211866|Black Theology and Black Power|James H. Cone|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172738387s/211866.jpg|205078]. This book, written that summer, represents Cone's first attempt to combine both those threads of his training and interest. The result is a very distinct work from BTBP: Cone has lost none of his fire, but has organized its expression around reference to the state of the art in mid-twentieth-century European Protestant theology. Its straightforward march through the doctrines and ticking off of the big German names might be stereotypical if the stakes were any lower. As it stands, BToL has a logic all its own, standing as a true Barthian counterpart to the [a:Karl Rahner|47417|Karl Rahner|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1256501734p2/47417.jpg]-isms of [b:A Theology of Liberation|824501|A Theology of Liberation History, Politics and Salvation|Gustavo Gutiérrez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178716651s/824501.jpg|1293918].
Those theological points of reference, with a few exceptions, have gone out of fashion enough to leave this book feeling somewhat dated. If BTBP feels dated today, by contrast, it is because White America has succeeded in forgetting the Watts and Detroit and Newark riots, for which we should hardly be proud. Cone's liberal heritage is nevertheless inseparable from his considerable achievement here. Take his ontological account of symbolic or spiritual blackness. To define blackness by skin color, for Cone's purposes, is obviously impossible, given the long social history of plantation rape, intermarriage, and one-drop laws. The dichotomy between Black and White, in Cone, only weakly describes bodies: More strictly, it describes identification with and existential struggle alongside the oppressed, poor, and marginalized. The abstraction of bodies into ethical states is a classic liberal move, but here repurposed for radicals.
My slightly lower rating for this book than for BTBP reflects less on its objective merits (the two really form one thought) than on the earlier book's uniquely shattering impact. I know several people whose conversion was effected through BTBP; this one lacks that distinction. But if this book did change your life, please let me know. I'd love to hear those stories.
Those theological points of reference, with a few exceptions, have gone out of fashion enough to leave this book feeling somewhat dated. If BTBP feels dated today, by contrast, it is because White America has succeeded in forgetting the Watts and Detroit and Newark riots, for which we should hardly be proud. Cone's liberal heritage is nevertheless inseparable from his considerable achievement here. Take his ontological account of symbolic or spiritual blackness. To define blackness by skin color, for Cone's purposes, is obviously impossible, given the long social history of plantation rape, intermarriage, and one-drop laws. The dichotomy between Black and White, in Cone, only weakly describes bodies: More strictly, it describes identification with and existential struggle alongside the oppressed, poor, and marginalized. The abstraction of bodies into ethical states is a classic liberal move, but here repurposed for radicals.
My slightly lower rating for this book than for BTBP reflects less on its objective merits (the two really form one thought) than on the earlier book's uniquely shattering impact. I know several people whose conversion was effected through BTBP; this one lacks that distinction. But if this book did change your life, please let me know. I'd love to hear those stories.
biffreads's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, this was 0-60 right out of the gate. Picked this up from the office of our retiring pastor (second edition). Very spiritually and intellectually challenging read. Lots to digest, so I will leave a few quotes here...
"Christian theology is never just a rational study of the being of God. Rather it is a study of God's liberating activity in the world, God's activity on behalf of the oppressed."
"...the church cannot be the church in isolation from the concrete realities of human suffering."
"To be oppressed is to encounter the overwhelming presence of human evil without any place to escape."
"The truly Christian response to earthly problems is doing what one must do because it is the human thing to do. The brother's suffering should not be used as a stepping-stone in Christian piety."
"Knowledge of Jesus Christ comes as one participates in human liberation."
"Christian theology is never just a rational study of the being of God. Rather it is a study of God's liberating activity in the world, God's activity on behalf of the oppressed."
"...the church cannot be the church in isolation from the concrete realities of human suffering."
"To be oppressed is to encounter the overwhelming presence of human evil without any place to escape."
"The truly Christian response to earthly problems is doing what one must do because it is the human thing to do. The brother's suffering should not be used as a stepping-stone in Christian piety."
"Knowledge of Jesus Christ comes as one participates in human liberation."
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