Black Religion

2 Pages 584 Words

Essay Response-Black Theology
According to Cone, Black theology is representative of the “historical fight for justice.” Black theology cannot be separated from power and politics. Black theology is what gave Black people the motivation to fight for their future and go against society, politics, and discrimination. “The term ‘Black Theology’ was created in this social and religious context. It was initially understood as the theological imagination in the struggle of freedom independently of white theologians” (570). Cone defines Black Theology as a “theology of black liberation”(571). Black Theology is said to have been “born in the context of the black community as black people were attempting to make sense out of their struggle from freedom”(571). Cone says, “Black theology can be found in our songs, prayers and sermons…it is the black vision of truth, preeminently the certainty that we were created not for slavery but for freedom. It began when white theology degraded black people and it gave them the hope to move on from this.
In addition to theological issues, Black Theology provided freedom from white oppressors. Cone says “We felt the need to explain ourselves and to be understood from our own vantage point and not from the perspectives and experiences of whites”(569).
Black theology helped black people to be set free from white racism. While whites used Christianity to give reason for slavery, blacks used it to go against the immorality of slavery. Faith empowered the weak and distraught black community into restoring itself. Society has degraded the black community, and their faith in God has uplifted them. “The recognition that comes from seeing Jesus as Liberator and the Gospel as freedom empowers black men to risk themselves for freedom and for faith. This faith we affirm in the midst of a hostile, disbelieving society”(565-6). Social reform is necessary but inadequate, an...