Black theology refers to a variety of Black theologies which have as their base the liberation

Liberty

Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...

 of the marginalized, especially the injustice

Injustice

Injustice is the lack of or opposition to justice, either in reference to a particular event or act, or as a larger status quo. The term generally refers to misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system. Misuse and abuse with regard to a particular...

 done towards Blacks in American and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n contexts. Black theology mixes liberation theology

Liberation theology

Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...

 and the work of Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...

 with the civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 and Black Power

Black Power

Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...

 movements.

Beliefs and doctrines

God

Intricate and largely philosophical views of God are largely ignored in preference for the concerns of the oppressed. White Christian concepts taught to black persons are to be disregarded or ignored. The aspects of God's person

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

, his power and authority, as well as "subtle indications of God's white maleness" are said not to relate to the black experience, to the extent of sometimes being antagonistic

Antagonism

Antagonism is hostility that results in active resistance, opposition, or contentiousness.Additionally, it may refer to:*Antagonism , where the involvement of multiple agents reduces their overall effect...

. While trinitarian theology is a big concern, Jesus is still considered to be God. The focus is given to God's actions, and his delivering of the oppressed because of his righteousness. Immanence

Immanence

Immanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world...

 is stressed over transcendence

Transcendence (religion)

In religion transcendence refers to the aspect of God's nature which is wholly independent of the physical universe. This is contrasted with immanence where God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways...

, and as a result God is seen to be "in flux" or "always changing".

Revelation

Black theology is not bound to biblical liberalism, but is of a more pragmatic nature. Only the experience of black oppression is the authoritative standard.

Salvation

Salvation is a collective freedom from the oppression and pertains to blacks in this life. Proponents of black theology are concerned specifically with the political and theological aspects of salvation

Collective salvation

Collective salvation is the religious belief that members of a group collectively influence the salvation of the group to which they belong. Collective salvation can teach that the group is collectively one person by its nature...

 more than the spiritual. In other words, salvation is physical liberation from white oppression, or "The white enemy" (Cone) rather than freedom from the sinful nature and acts of each individual person. Presenting heaven as a reward for following Christ is seen as an attempt to dissuade blacks from the goal of real liberation of their whole persons.

"A white man who is in power cannot be a Christian, unless he gives up that power and give it to the black man"
- James Cone on Black Theology

Church

The church is the focus of social expression in the black community where the Black church can express freedom and equality. Thus the church and politics have formed a cohesion where the theological expression of the desire for social freedom is carried out.

South African theology

Black theologies were popularized in southern Africa in the early 1970s by Basil Moore, a Methodist theologian in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It helped to give rise to, and developed in parallel with, the Black Consciousness Movement

Black Consciousness Movement

The Black Consciousness Movement was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in...

. Black theology was particularly influential in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 for motivating resistance to apartheid. See the Kairos Document

Kairos Document

The Kairos Document is a theological statement issued in 1985 by a group of black South African theologians based predominantly in the black townships of Soweto, South Africa. The statement challenged the churches' response to what the authors saw as the vicious policies of the Apartheid state...

.

Southern African black theologians include Barney Pityana

Barney Pityana

Nyameko Barney Pityana FKC is a human rights lawyer and theologian in South Africa. He is an exponent of Black theology....

, Allan Boesak

Allan Boesak

Reverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and politician and anti-apartheid activist...

, Itumeleng Mosala and Zephania Kameeta

Zephania Kameeta

Zephania Kameeta is a Namibian religious and political leader.-Education:He attended the Martin Luther High School at Okombahe and then the Paulinum Seminary at Otjimbingwe ....

.

UK black theology

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Dr Robert Beckford

Robert Beckford

Robert Beckford is a British academic theologian and a reader in black theology and popular culture at Oxford Brookes University, whose documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4 have caused controversy and debate among the Christian and British religious community.-Biography:Beckford was born...

 is a prominent black theology practitioner. He was the first in the UK to develop and teach a course on Black Theology at an academic level. Black Theology: An International Journal is published in the UK. It is edited by Anthony Reddie, who has written over 40 journal articles, essays and books and is the most prolific black theology author in the UK today.

Significant People

• James H. Cone - born August 5, 1938. Currently a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
• Dwight N. Hopkins - Currently a professor at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.
• Cornel West
  Cornel West
  Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....
  
   - born 1954. Currently a professor at Princeton University.

See also

• Social Justice
  Social justice
  Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
  
  
• Hermeneutics
• James Cone
• Religion in Black America
  Religion in Black America
  Religion in Black America refers to the religious and spiritual practices of persons of African descent in the United States of America.Black Americans were evangelized by the whites who brought them to the U.S., and the religious persuasions of African Americans today largely parallel the...
  
  
• The Kairos Document
  Kairos Document
  The Kairos Document is a theological statement issued in 1985 by a group of black South African theologians based predominantly in the black townships of Soweto, South Africa. The statement challenged the churches' response to what the authors saw as the vicious policies of the Apartheid state...
  
  

Church planting

• Ratliffe, Joe S. & Michael J. Cox, Church Planting in the African American Community, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2002. 111 pages.

Music

• Cone, James H. The Spirituals and the Blues, Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.
• Mapson, J. Wendell, Jr., The Ministry of Music in the Black Church, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1984
• Walker, Wyatt Tee. Somebody's Calling My Name: Black Sacred Music and Social Change, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1979.

Practical ministry

• Aldred, Joe. Preaching With Power, London: Cassells, 1998
• Andrews, Dale P. Practical Theology for Black Churches, Luisville: John Knox Press, 2002
• Cosby, Kevin W. Get Off Your But! Messages Musings and Ministries to Empower the African American Church, Lithonia, Georgia: Orman Press, 2000.
• Crawford, Evans E. The Hum: Call and Response in African American Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon, 1995.
• Kellar, Marcel. Timothy, Stir Up Your Gift!, Nashville: MEGA Corporation, 2000.
• Mitchell, Henry H. and Thomas, Emil M. Preaching for Black Self-Esteem, Nashville: Abingdon, 1994.
• Reddie, Anthony. Nobodies to Somebodies: Practical Theology for Education and Liberation, Peterborough: Epworth Press, 2003
• Taylor, Edward L. comp. The Words of Gardner Taylor, Volume 1: NBC Radio Sermons (1959–1970). Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1999.
• Thomas, Walter S., Spiritual Navigation for the 21st Century: Sermons from Walter Thomas. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2000.
• Trimiew, Darryl M., Editor. Out of Mighty Waters: Sermons by African American Disciples, St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1994.
• Waters, Kenneth L. Afrocentric Sermons: The Beauty of Blackness in the Bible, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1993.
• Wimberly, Edward P. Moving From Shame to Self-Worth: Preaching and Pastoral Care, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Africans Who Shaped Our Faith: A Study of Ten Biblical Personalities, Chicago: Urban Ministries, 1995
• Wright, Jr., Jeremiah A. Good News: Sermons of Hope for Today's Families, Valley Forge: Judson, 1995.
• Wright, Jr., Jeremiah A. What Makes You So Strong?: Sermons of Joy and Strength from Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1993.

Sexuality

Douglas, Kelly Brown. Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective, Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Social issues

• Billingsley, Andrew. Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and Social Reform, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Fluker, Walter Earl, The Stones that the Builders Rejected: The Development of Ethical Leadership from the Black Church Tradition, Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1998.
• Franklin, Robert M. Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.
• Grant, Paul and Patel, Raj (Eds.) A Time To Act: Kairos 1992 Birmingham: A joint publication of Racial Justice and the Black Theology Working Group, 1992.
• Harris, Forrest E. Ministry for Social Crisis: Theology and Praxis in the Black Church Tradition, Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1993
• January, Jerald. A Second Time: Examining the Sin of Racial Division that Remain in the Church Today, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.
• Malone, Dr. Walter, Jr. An Operative Faith for Oppressed People, Nashville: National Baptist Publishing Board, 1988.
• Sawyer, Mary R. Black Ecumenism: Implementing tSCADOOOSHhe Demands of Justice, Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1998.

Sociological and historical studies

• Andersson, Efraim. Churches at the Grassroots, London: Lutterworth Press, 1968
• Cone, James H. and Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Theology A Documentary History: Vol 1. 1966-1979, New York: Orbis Books, 1992
• Cone, James H. and Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Theology A Documentary History: Vol 2. 1980- 1992, New York: Orbis Books, 1993
• Ela, Jean-Marc. African Cry, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1986
• Frazier, E. Franklin. The Black Church in America, New York: Shocken Books, 1964
• Jagessar, Michael N. and Anthony G. Reddie (eds.) Postcolonial Black British Theology, Peterborough, Epworth: 2007
• Jagessar, Michael N. and Anthony G. Reddie (eds.) Black Theology in Britain: A Reader, London, Equinox: 2007
• Lincoln, C. Eric, The Black Church in the African American Experience, Durham, N.Y.: Duke University Press, 1990
• Paris, Peter J. The Social Teaching of the Black Churches, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.
• Paris, Peter J. The Spirituality of African Peoples, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995
• Pinn, Anne and Anthony B. Black Church History, Fortress Press, 2002
• Rabateau, Albert. Slave Religion, Oxford University Press, 1978
• Reddie, Richard S., Abolition! The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies, Lion Hudson PLC: Oxford, 2007.
• Reddie, Anthony. Faith, Stories and the Experience of Black Elders, London: Jessica Kingsley, 2001
• Sernett, Milton C. African American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, Duke University Press (2nd ed), 1999, ISBN 0-8223-2449-0
• Terrell, JoAnne Marie. Power in the Blood: The Cross in the African American Experience, New York: Orbis books, 1998
• Wilkinson, John. Church in Black and White, St. Andrews Press, 1994
• Williams, Ethel L. and Clifton F. Brown, Howard University Bibliography of African and Afro American Religious Studies: With Locations in American Libraries, SR Books, 1977, ISBN 0-8420-2080-2
• Wilmore, Gayraud. Black Religion and Black Radicalism, New York: Orbis Books, 1973.
• Wilmore, Gayraud and Cone, James H. (Eds.) "Black Theology: A Documentary History, 1966-1979", Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1979. pp. 350–359

Theology and philosophy

• Anyabwile, Thabiti M. and Mark A. Noll. The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity, Inter-Varsity Press, 2007.
• Bailey, Randall C. and Jacquelyn Grant, editors. The Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995.
• Bond, Gilbert I. Community, Communitas, and Cosmos: Toward a Phenomenological Interpretation and Theology of Traditional Afro-Christian Worship, New York: University Press of America, 2002
• Bond, Gilbert I., A Phenomenology of Reconciliation: Diasporic Community, Cerole Consciousness, and the Religious Life of Paul, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.
• Bridges, Flora Wilson. Resurrection Song: African-American Spirituality (The Bishop Henry McNeal Turner/Sojourner Truth Series in Black Religion, Mary Knoll: Orbis Books, 2000.
• Cone, James H. God of the Oppressed, New York: Seabury Press, 1975
• Cone, James H. For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church, New York: Orbis Books, 1984
• Cone, James H. My Soul Looks Back, New York: Orbis Books, 1986
• Cone, James H. Black Theology and Black Power (20th Anniversary Edition), New York: Harper SanFrancisco, 1989
• Cooper-Lewter, Nicholas. Soul Theology: The Heart of American Black Culture, Nashville: Abingdon.
• Douglas, Kelly Brown. The Black Christ (Bishop Henry McNeal Turner/Sojourner Truth Series in Black Religion), New York: Orbis Books, 1994
• Duffield, Ian K. (ed) Urban Christ: Responses to John Vincent, Sheffield: UTU, 1997
• Evans, Jr., James H. We Have Been Believers: An African American Systematic Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992
• Felder, Cain Hope Stony. The Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991
• Gerloff, Roswith I. H. A Plea for British Black Theologies, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1992
• Hood, Robert E. Must God Remain Greek?: Afro-Cultures and God-Talk, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990
• Hood, Robert E. Begrimmed and Black: Christian Traditions on Blacks and Blackness, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994
• Hope, Marjorie and Young, James. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979
• Hopkins, Dwight N. (Ed.) Black Faith and Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power, New York: Orbis Books, 1999
• Hopkins, Dwight N. Introducing Black Theology of Liberation, New York: Orbis book, 1999
• Hopkins, Dwight N. Down, Up and Over: Slave Religion and Black Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000
• Hopkins, Dwight N. and Cummings, George. Cut Loose Your Stammering Tongue: Black Theology and the Slave Narratives, New York: Orbis Books, 1991
• Jennings, Theodore W. Good News to the Poor, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990
• Jones, William R. Is God a White Racist? Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
• Kalilombe, Patrick A.
  Patrick Kalilombe
  Patrick Augustine Kalilombe M. Afr is a Roman Catholic theologian who was the Bishop of Lilongwe from 1972 to 1979....
  
  Doing Theology at the Grassroots, Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1999.
• Okholm, Dennis L. The Gospel in Black & White: Theological Resources for Racial Reconciliation, Inter-varsity Press, 1997.
• Pinn, Anthony B. Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology, New York: Continuum, 1995
• Pinn, Anthony B. Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003
• Reddie, Anthony. Black Theology in Transatlantic Dialogue, Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
• Reddie, Anthony. Dramatizing Theologies, London: Equinox, 2006.
• Reddie, Anthony Working Against The Grain: Re-imaging Black Theology in the 21st Century, London: Equinox, 2008.
• Reddie, Anthony Is God Colour Blind?: Insights from Black Theology for Christian Ministry, London: SPCK, 2009
• Reddie, Anthony Black Theology, Slavery and Contemporary Christianity, Basingstoke: Ashgate, 2010
• Roberts, J. Deotis. Africentric Christianity: A Theological Appraisal for Ministry, Judson Press, 2000.
• Roberts, J. Deotis. Black Religion, Black Theology, Continuum International, 2003.
• Roberts, J. Deotis. Black Theology in Dialogue, Westminster, John Knox, 1987.
• Roberts, J. Deotis. Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology, Westminster, John Knox, 2005.
• Roberts, J. Deotis. The Prophethood of Black Believers: An African-American Political Theology for Ministry, Westminster, John Knox, 1994.
• Roberts, Samuel K. In the Path of Virtue: The African American Moral Tradition, Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1999.
• Roberts, Samuel K. African American Christian Ethics, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2001.
• Sanders, Cheryl J. Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1995.
• Singleton III, Harry H. Black Theology and Ideology, Collgeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2002.
• Society for Biblical Literature, Reading The Bible in The Global Village, Cape Town, No.3, Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature, 2002
• West, Cornel. African American Religious Thought: An Anthology, Westminster, John Knox, 2004.

Women in ministry

• Aldred, Joe. Sisters with Power, London: Continuum, 2000
• Collier-Thomas, Bettye. Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons 1850-1979, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998.
• Lightner, Ann Farrar. And Your Daughters Shall Preach: Developing a Female Mentoring Program in the African American Church, St. Louis: Hodale Press, Inc., 1995.
• Reddie, Anthony Legacy: Anthology in Memory of Jillian Brown Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 2000

Other

• Felder, Cain Hope. The African Heritage Study Bible, Nashville, Tenn. The James C. Winston Publishing Company, 1993
• "Black Theology: An International Journal", Equinox Publishing Ltd., published three times per year. Dr Anthony Reddie, Ed, email: a.g.reddie@queens.ac.uk