black liberation theology
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Gospel Music Doesn’t Need Kanye’s Remixing
The familiar sounds of a three-part chorus filled my bedroom as I did the first listen of Jesus is King. Anticipating the iconic gospel/rap mashup, I looked forward to something fully black with melodies over heavy beats. This album, however, missed the angst of “Jesus Walks,” the complication of “Ultralight Beam,” and the epic production…
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‘If God Is White, Kill God’: Why Dr. James Cone Was Once the Most Hated Theologian in America
I had just returned to New York City from delivering the 2018 Trout Lectures at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, when I received word that my beloved professor, now colleague and friend, Dr. James Hal Cone had died. In 2012, Dr. Cone had been invited to lecture at Trinity Lutheran but had to cancel…
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Father of Black Liberation Theology, the Rev. Dr. James Cone, Dies at 79
It seems appropriate that the Rev. Dr. James Hal Cone—radical Christian, father of black liberation theology, soldier against white supremacy, renowned author and longtime academic around the American phenomenon of lynching—would die the same week that the national lynching memorial opened in Montgomery, Ala. It is a divine nod to a job well done. Cone,…