Christianity on Trial

by Chapman, Mark L.

• ISBN13: 9781570750441
• ISBN10: 1570750440
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-12-01
• Publisher: Orbis Books
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Since slavery times African-American religious thinkers have struggled to answer this question: Is Christianity a source of liberation or a source of oppression? In a study that reviews representative thinkers over the last fifty years, Mark Chapman reviews the variety of ways that African-Americans have addressed this problem and how it has informed their work and lives. Beginning with Benjamin Mays, the leading "Negro" theologian of the post-World War II period, Chapman explores the critical implications of this question right up to the present day. The pivotal turning point in this period is the emergence of the Black Power movement in the 1960s. Sparked in part by the challenge of the Black Muslims, for whom Christianity was simply "the white man's religion", inherently racist and oppressive, the era of Black Power saw the rise of militant Black theologies as well. After analyzing the work of the Muslim Elijah Muhammad, Chapman turns to the pioneering work of Black theologians Albert Cleage and James H. Cone. Chapman demonstrates the differences but also uncovers surprising lines of continuity between the older "Negro theologians" and the later "Black theologians" particularly in their efforts to uncover the truly liberative potential of Christianity. Christianity on Trial concludes by exploring the recent emergence of womanist theology. As articulated by Delores S. Williams and other African-American women, "womanist theology" challenges not only the patriarchal aspects of historical Christianity, but the same limitations in previous Black theologies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
Christianity: Source of Black Liberation or Oppression?
PART ONE 1945-1965
``The Christian Way in Race Relations''
Benjamin E. Mays and the Theology of Race Relations	15	(27)
Christianity, America, and the World	16	(13)
Christianity and Race Relations	29	(8)
Christianity, the Bible, and Nonviolence	37	(5)
``Christianity Is the White Man's Religion''	42	(27)
Elijah Muhammad's Nationalist Critique of Christianity
Christianity, America, and the World	43	(6)
Christianity and Race Relations	49	(11)
Christianity, the Bible, and Self-Defense	60	(9)
PART TWO 1966-1995
Black Power and Christianity	69	(32)
The NCBC and Albert Cleage as Defenders of the Faith
Christianity, America, and Black Power	71	(4)
The National Committee of Black Churchmen: Defenders of the Faith	75	(8)
Three Characteristics of Nascent Black Theology	83	(8)
Christianity, Albert Cleage, and the Black Messiah	91	(10)
Christianity and Black Power	101	(34)
James Cone's Role in Reinterpreting the Faith
Is There a ``Black Theology?'': The Misgivings of Pre-Black Power Religious Thinkers	102	(4)
Christianity, Liberation, and the Emergence of James Cone	106	(17)
Cone's Critique of the American Churches	123	(12)
Christianity and Sexism	135	(33)
Delores Williams and the Challenge of Womanist Theology
Christianity, Sexism, and the Black Community	137	(11)
Christianity, Womanist Theology, and the Emergence of Delores Williams	148	(8)
Christianity, the Bible, and Black Women	156	(6)
Womanist Critique of the African-American Denominational Churches	162	(6)
Conclusion	168	(13)
Reclaiming a Self-Critical Black Faith
Notes	181	(25)
Index	206