Is God A White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology

by Jones, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780807010334
• ISBN10: 0807010332
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-11-30
• Publisher: Beacon Press

Summary

Published originally as part of C. Eric Lincoln's series on the black religious experience,Is God a White Racist?is a landmark critique of the black church's treatment of evil and the nature of suffering. In this powerful examination of the early liberation methodology of James Cone, J. Deotis Roberts, and Joseph Washington, among others, Jones questions whether their foundation for black Christian theismthe belief in an omnibenevolent God who has dominion over human historycan provide an adequate theological foundation to effectively dismantle the economic, social, and political framework of oppression. Seeing divine benevolence as part of oppression's mechanism of disguise, Jones argues that black liberation theologians must adopt a new theism that is informed by humanism and its principle of the functional ultimacy of wo/man, where human choice and action determine whether our condition is slavery or freedom.

Author Biography

William R. Jones (1933-2012) was a professor of religion and director of black studies at Florida State University. A well-known and respected African American theologian and scholar, he was the author of the groundbreaking book Is God A White Racist?, a deep and profound look at the connections between natural evil and social oppression.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	ix	(10)
PROLOGUE	xix	(2)
INTRODUCTION	xxi
PART I. An Overview of Divine Racism	3	(68)
I. Divine Racism: A Philosophical and Theological Analysis	3	(21)
II. White God-Black Protest	24	(16)
III. Should a Priest Call a Doctor? Theodicy, Oppression, and Quietism	40	(21)
IV. Divine Racism and Theological Method	61	(10)
PART II. Black Suffering and Black Theology: An Internal Critique	71	(98)
V. Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issue for Black Theology	71	(8)
VI. Joseph Washington: Blacks as God's Suffering Servant	79	(19)
VII. James Cone: God, Champion of the Oppressed	98	(23)
VIII. Albert Cleage: God, A Black Soul Brother	121	(11)
IX. Major Jones: Man, Cosufferer with God	132	(13)
X. J. Deotis Roberts: A Psychology of Black Liberation	145	(24)
PART III. Toward a Black Theodicy for Today	169	(34)
XI. Toward a Prolegomenon to Black Theology	169	(16)
XII. Humanocentric Theism: A Theistic Framework for Ethnic Suffering	185	(18)
EPILOGUE	203	(2)
AFTERWORD	205	(10)
NOTES	215	(36)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	251	(2)
INDEX	253