One of the most influential men of our times has died. James Cone, noted theologian and leader recently passed away. James Cone was the founder of what came to be known as Black Liberation Theology. I met Cone a few times and heard him speak throughout the decades I have known him. I fondly remember a recent time when he was on my own campus and delivered a challenging message. He was very good and, I thought, the current generation of students need to hear him. I like to think of Cone as one of the key bridge people. Let me elaborate.
Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas in 1936. The means he lived fourscore years in an America that changed remarkably during his lifetime. And it means he lived in a country that did not change as much as he might have wanted or, even, expected. He grew up in the deep South of the 1940s and 50s with all the racial bigotry that we associate with those years. When he would tell stories of his younger years, it would be almost unbelievable to current college students. He had stories of the KKK and of lynchings. He had stories of prejudice that were heart wrenching. He had experience that was not to be denied.
Cone escaped some of this by going to college. From college he went on to Garrett seminary and then received his doctoral degree from Northwestern. So he was now a very educated black man with the same stories. Cone came into my awareness in the late 1960s. he was hired by Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Union was my second choice for seminary after I had finished college. While I don’t regret going there, I do sense that I missed something by not having the chance to get to know Cone personally had I gone there.
Most of us know what the 1960s were like. My memories of the Vietnam War, the feminist movement, the Civil Rights movement and the rest are very vibrant. The stunning legislation passed during LBJ’s time as president began a process of change that we still are trying to bring to fruition. The Civil Rights legislation was huge. This legislation began to curb the most blatant form of racism. Only a fool would say the days of racism are behind us. In many ways racism has only become more subtle---until it still breaks out in appalling ways, like the shooting of unarmed black men and boys.
In 1969 Cone published a book that sparked a new conversation in theological circles and in the wider culture. Black Theology and Black Power was a stunner. This launched what became known as the “Black Liberation Movement.” It continues to this day both to describe our situation and to challenge. No person in any spiritual community should be ignorant of this, even if they cannot identify it by name. United Theological Seminary says of this book and of Cone, this was an argument for “God’s radical identification of black people in the United States.”
I like how the President Serene Jones of Union Seminary describes Cone’s person and work. "Fifty years of students walk out of his class — they walk out in tears, they walk out inspired, they walk out troubled…But they all walk out feeling deeply touched by his kindness and his fierceness." Fifty years teaching the future spiritual leaders of churches, temples and mosques. Cone continued to speak, preach and write. I remember especially his book, A Black Theology of Liberation and, more recently, The Cross and Lynching Tree.
There are many ways to remember Cone and to appreciate everything he brought to the world---not just to the United States. Let’s take one quotation from the last book mentioned above. Cone writes, “The real scandal of the gospel is this: humanity’s salvation is revealed in the cross of the condemned, criminal Jesus, and humanity’s salvation is available only through our solidarity with the crucified people in our midst.” Even to read these words is to experience one more time the power of a prophet. It is one thing to have the prophets tucked away neatly in the Bibles on our desk or buried in the closet. If you really want to read one of those prophets---Isaiah, Jeremiah or the others---you can open the Bible and do so. But they never showed up in person.
Cone did show up in person. He would not talk about the Babylonians or Egyptians, but about his neighbors and our neighbors who wronged and, sometimes, abused or even killed African-Americans. As usual, hearing Cone or reading him made us uncomfortable. I usually felt convicted and, then, convinced. I was convinced he was accurate. And then I hoped that somehow I could continue to change and grow---a kind of conversion, if you will.
I am sure Cone had hope. I doubt that he had implicit hope in me or any other particular person. But I am sure he had hope because of God and of the gospel. God’s story is ultimately a story of victory or, in old language, of triumph. I value James Cone and everything for which he stood and all that he did. His passing means others have to continue the prophetic witness and work.
I hope in some small way I and everyone I know can labor in the same spiritual work. His day is done; we have work to do.
Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas in 1936. The means he lived fourscore years in an America that changed remarkably during his lifetime. And it means he lived in a country that did not change as much as he might have wanted or, even, expected. He grew up in the deep South of the 1940s and 50s with all the racial bigotry that we associate with those years. When he would tell stories of his younger years, it would be almost unbelievable to current college students. He had stories of the KKK and of lynchings. He had stories of prejudice that were heart wrenching. He had experience that was not to be denied.
Cone escaped some of this by going to college. From college he went on to Garrett seminary and then received his doctoral degree from Northwestern. So he was now a very educated black man with the same stories. Cone came into my awareness in the late 1960s. he was hired by Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Union was my second choice for seminary after I had finished college. While I don’t regret going there, I do sense that I missed something by not having the chance to get to know Cone personally had I gone there.
Most of us know what the 1960s were like. My memories of the Vietnam War, the feminist movement, the Civil Rights movement and the rest are very vibrant. The stunning legislation passed during LBJ’s time as president began a process of change that we still are trying to bring to fruition. The Civil Rights legislation was huge. This legislation began to curb the most blatant form of racism. Only a fool would say the days of racism are behind us. In many ways racism has only become more subtle---until it still breaks out in appalling ways, like the shooting of unarmed black men and boys.
In 1969 Cone published a book that sparked a new conversation in theological circles and in the wider culture. Black Theology and Black Power was a stunner. This launched what became known as the “Black Liberation Movement.” It continues to this day both to describe our situation and to challenge. No person in any spiritual community should be ignorant of this, even if they cannot identify it by name. United Theological Seminary says of this book and of Cone, this was an argument for “God’s radical identification of black people in the United States.”
I like how the President Serene Jones of Union Seminary describes Cone’s person and work. "Fifty years of students walk out of his class — they walk out in tears, they walk out inspired, they walk out troubled…But they all walk out feeling deeply touched by his kindness and his fierceness." Fifty years teaching the future spiritual leaders of churches, temples and mosques. Cone continued to speak, preach and write. I remember especially his book, A Black Theology of Liberation and, more recently, The Cross and Lynching Tree.
There are many ways to remember Cone and to appreciate everything he brought to the world---not just to the United States. Let’s take one quotation from the last book mentioned above. Cone writes, “The real scandal of the gospel is this: humanity’s salvation is revealed in the cross of the condemned, criminal Jesus, and humanity’s salvation is available only through our solidarity with the crucified people in our midst.” Even to read these words is to experience one more time the power of a prophet. It is one thing to have the prophets tucked away neatly in the Bibles on our desk or buried in the closet. If you really want to read one of those prophets---Isaiah, Jeremiah or the others---you can open the Bible and do so. But they never showed up in person.
Cone did show up in person. He would not talk about the Babylonians or Egyptians, but about his neighbors and our neighbors who wronged and, sometimes, abused or even killed African-Americans. As usual, hearing Cone or reading him made us uncomfortable. I usually felt convicted and, then, convinced. I was convinced he was accurate. And then I hoped that somehow I could continue to change and grow---a kind of conversion, if you will.
I am sure Cone had hope. I doubt that he had implicit hope in me or any other particular person. But I am sure he had hope because of God and of the gospel. God’s story is ultimately a story of victory or, in old language, of triumph. I value James Cone and everything for which he stood and all that he did. His passing means others have to continue the prophetic witness and work.
I hope in some small way I and everyone I know can labor in the same spiritual work. His day is done; we have work to do.
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