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A review by tdwightdavis
Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody: The Making of a Black Theologian by James H. Cone
5.0
How do I even talk about this book? James Cone is probably the single most important theologian in my life. I often refer to reading him for the first time as my second conversion experience. His thought infected me and I’ve spent the better part of a decade trying to get the words he put inside of me out into the world. He reinvigorated Christianity for me. He showed how white supremacy had so infiltrated my religion and indicted me for participating in that. He challenged me. He pissed me off. He rebuked me. And I fought back and disagreed and yelled and eventually shut up and sat at his feet.
I remember the moment it happened. I was writing a chapter about Cone for my first master’s thesis. On one half of my computer screen was the Word document, on the other half was a live stream from the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. On one half of the screen was a paper where I was saying that Cone was too angry and militant (the most common critique whites level at him) and on the other half were peaceful protestors shouting “hands up don’t shoot” as police snipers placed laser sites on their chests. I was livid. I felt an anger inside of me that I didn’t know what to do with. And suddenly I got it. Suddenly I disagreed with all of my critiques against Cone. The chapter was due the next day. I had to email my supervisor and tell him why I couldn’t submit it. I had to scrap the chapter altogether and it took another 4 years before I felt like I could write about Cone.
So I have an emotional connection to Cone that I don’t have with any other thinker. And that connection is exacerbated by his recent death. To pretend that I am in any way capable of objectively assessing his posthumously released memoir is laughable.
This book is a miracle. It’s challenging and elucidating. Cone goes book by book, talking about what he was thinking and feeling as he wrote each of his treatises. He discusses what he learned from critics and students. He talks about his intellectual trinity of Martin King, Malcom X, and James Baldwin. He remains a prophet, boldly and unabashedly calling out white supremacy and complacency. And he offers more grace and forgiveness than I’ve ever seen in his writing. This book is a must read for anyone reading Cone. It illuminates and grants clarity to his entire corpus. And it’s a damn good read too.
I loved this book. I want everyone to read this book. I want to teach this book. I can’t say enough good things about this book.
I remember the moment it happened. I was writing a chapter about Cone for my first master’s thesis. On one half of my computer screen was the Word document, on the other half was a live stream from the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. On one half of the screen was a paper where I was saying that Cone was too angry and militant (the most common critique whites level at him) and on the other half were peaceful protestors shouting “hands up don’t shoot” as police snipers placed laser sites on their chests. I was livid. I felt an anger inside of me that I didn’t know what to do with. And suddenly I got it. Suddenly I disagreed with all of my critiques against Cone. The chapter was due the next day. I had to email my supervisor and tell him why I couldn’t submit it. I had to scrap the chapter altogether and it took another 4 years before I felt like I could write about Cone.
So I have an emotional connection to Cone that I don’t have with any other thinker. And that connection is exacerbated by his recent death. To pretend that I am in any way capable of objectively assessing his posthumously released memoir is laughable.
This book is a miracle. It’s challenging and elucidating. Cone goes book by book, talking about what he was thinking and feeling as he wrote each of his treatises. He discusses what he learned from critics and students. He talks about his intellectual trinity of Martin King, Malcom X, and James Baldwin. He remains a prophet, boldly and unabashedly calling out white supremacy and complacency. And he offers more grace and forgiveness than I’ve ever seen in his writing. This book is a must read for anyone reading Cone. It illuminates and grants clarity to his entire corpus. And it’s a damn good read too.
I loved this book. I want everyone to read this book. I want to teach this book. I can’t say enough good things about this book.