Black Liberation Theology Essay - 1864 Words

Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960’s with Black Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its†¦show more content†¦Long before their contact with whites, Africans were a strongly religious, and deeply spiritual people. During the early history of slavery, the African American spirituality was often seen by whites as a pagan faith. These rituals and dogmas were seen by whites as Voodoo, Hoodoo, Witchcraft, and superstitions. They often commented on these pagan practices, and fetishes, and were threatened by them. As a result, great effort was put on eradicating these practices, and many were lost within a generation.# Although tremendous efforts was placed on eradicating the â€Å"superstitious† religious beliefs of the African slaves, they were not immediately introduced to the religion of white slave masters, Christianity. Many planters resisted the idea of converting slaves to Christianity out of a fear that baptism would change a slaves legal status. The black population was generally untouched by Christianity until the religious revivals of the 1730s and 1740s. The Bible was manipulated to support the institution of slavery and its inhumane practices. Christianity was used to suppress and conform slaves. Slaveholders, priests, and those tied to the Church undermined the beliefs of the mil lions of African-Americans converts.# White Christianity was used to justify the enslavement of blacks. By the early nineteenth century, slaveholders had adopted the view that Christianity would make slaves more submissive and orderly. African Americans, however, began to lookShow MoreRelatedBlack Liberation Theology Essay1819 Words   |  8 PagesBlack Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, theRead MoreAnalyzing Black Liberation Theology, Latin American Liberation Theology, and Feminist Theology1371 Words   |  6 PagesLiberatio n Theology Black Liberation Theology, Latin American Liberation Theology, and Feminist Theology Liberation theology comprises of two main principles: it recognizes the call for liberation from any form of oppression economic, political, and social: second, it says that theology must grow from the basic Christian communities and not from above. Liberation theology examines the theological meaning of human activities, which includes an explanation of the Christian faith out of sufferingRead MoreLiberation Theology Essay1076 Words   |  5 Pagestouching on the ideas of James Cone’s ideas on Liberation Theology and the relationship between the Cross and the Lynching Tree, our group decided to focus the topic of our presentation around Liberation Theology. However, in order to create a counter argument to stimulate further discourse, we introduced the Theology of Prosperity, as an opposing theological concept, to our presentation. Hence, we came up with the topic of Liberation Theology vs. Theology of Prosperity. Firstly, it was necessaryRead MoreLiberation Theology Essay1157 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction According to Enns (2008), liberation theology attempts to infer the holy writ through the plight of the poor. This movement originated from South America in the early 1950s when Marxism was the most popular theory among the poor. It was a response to the ill-treatment and poverty facing the ordinary people. It dealt with the issue of distribution of wealth among people in order to upgrade the economic status in life. This movement had strong Romanian Catholic roots bolstered in ColombiaRead MoreMarxism Within Blt5219 Words   |  21 PagesMarxism Within Black Theology of Liberation. This study seeks to expose the ways in which Black Theology of Liberation was shaped by Marxism through the writings of its founders, concentrating predominantly on the need to bring about the liberation of the poor African-Americans from their repressive white racist oppressors by any means necessary, and the redistribution of wealth to those deprived of it by their white capitalist oppressors. The theme of this researched remained embed in myRead MoreJames Cone Essay1137 Words   |  5 PagesA Black Theology of Liberation By James H. Cone â€Å"Christian theology is a theology of liberation. It is a rational study of the being of God in the world in light of existential situations of an oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to the essence of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ.† (pp. 1) James H. Cone stresses the idea that theology is not universal, but tied to specific historical contexts. In A Black Theology of Liberation James, Cone explains what Black theology isRead More Liberation Theology Essay646 Words   |  3 PagesLiberation Theology Liberation theology is situational. The emergence of liberation theology and the interpretation of the Bible under liberation theology stems directly to the participants place in society. As the title suggests, liberation theology interprets the Bible as a document of hope that will give strength and validity to a struggle against an oppressor. Liberation theology rises out of a new political consciousness. The oppressed people have to realize they are oppressed and that theRead MoreDorothy Of The White House1355 Words   |  6 Pagesearly church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.† (300) James Cone believed Christian theology was a theology of liberation. God of Christian faith had an identity similar to black identity in America in the time he wrote his book. In history, God chose Israel because He had intentions for Jesus to help the oppressed people of the community. Jesus was a prophet of social justice toRead MoreReflection Paper855 Words   |  4 PagesDiscussing liberation within theology is the contemporary form of theology. Sawyer conveys, â€Å"Liberation theology is â€Å"a collection of contemporary theological movements interpreting salvation and the mission of the church primarily as the changing of oppressive social structures—economic, political, and social—rather than as redemption from personal guilt and sin.† During Christ walk on earth, His ministry led up to freeing or liberating humanity from the penalty of sin. Christ liberation is not inRead MoreBook Review: God of the Oppressed Essay examples1928 Words   |  8 Pageso f Cone’s theological position, which was introduced in his earlier writings of, â€Å"Black Theology and Black Power,† (1969) and â€Å"A Black Theology of Liberation† (1975). This final account was put together and published as a response to the continuous dismissal of Black Theology. This response shows Cone’s use of personal experiences, knowledge, and faith to explain the actual God of the oppressed found in Black Theology. The importance of the chosen title is maintained through all ten of Cone’s chapters