Poverty and racism are a problem in the United States and it is addressed by Black Liberation theologians and the black church as part of a critique of the white Christian church:
Luke 4:18 -- "Preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, set the captives free, offer sight to the blind and liberate those who are oppressed" is one verse that is central to the black theology of liberation. Another one is Matthew 25:40 -- "As you have done unto the least of these, you have done it unto me."
Black Liberation theology is both an attempt to interpret Scripture through the plight of the poor--- to eradicate poverty and to bring about freedom and liberation for the oppressed---and an aggressive approach to eradicating racism---black people's troubles are a result of racism that still exists in America.
Black liberation theology has its roots in 1960s civil-rights activism and draws inspiration from both the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, and is a theology that sees God as concerned with the poor and the weak. In in a white-dominated society, in which black has been defined as evil, the mission is to make the gospel relevant to the life and struggles of American blacks.
These views are forcibly expressed by James Cone the black liberation theologian here:
James Cone begin with the person of Jesus, and specifically the Jesus revealed in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke's gospel, Jesus has a concern for the oppressed that does not always come through in the other gospels.
| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 4:28 PM | Permalink
Gary,
I guess that black theologans would make strong critiques of the White Christian church for ignoring or failing to address the problem of race (they did nothing to oppose slavery and segregation) in the US.
Nan,
The paper by Noel Leo Erskine is good on this. He says:
Cone's earlier observation that theology needs to allow the tragic in life to be the point of departure for talk about God and the world. Both Cone and Herzog and the earlier exponents of Black theology suggested that racism warranted a critical term that would serve as leverage for a counter discourse. The term they suggested was ontological blackness. The term had its roots in DuBois's explication of double consciousness at the opening of the twentieth century. DuBois prophesied that the problem of the twentieth century would be the problem of the colour line. During this century colour has played a major role in our life. Often, colour dictates where we go to school, where people live, where we go to church, whose one's friends are and to whom one gets married. But black theologians have sought to transcend race by calling attention to the ontological qualities of blackness and indicate that it is possible for white people to become black and for black people to become white.
He says that the term ontological blackness forces us to take the other seriously, to affirm her difference and at the same time to affirm the particularity of our situation.
Obama wins North Carolina as expected. It was a decisive victory Clinton is leading in Indiana. It is a modest lead. Obama retains his lead in pledged delegates.Nothing game changing, and no likelihood that today will mark the end of the campaign.
Though the race will slog on through the six remaining primaries, these states don’t have enough delegates to make much difference either way.
The Clinton camp has two major tasks now: staunch any flow of superdelegates to Obama, and focus even more attention on getting Florida and Michigan to count.
Without them, it’s hard to see a path for her to the nomination.
Coming off the rough few weeks Obama has had (gas tax, Wright, etc), this doesn't look good for Clinton. She failed to close the gap on Barack Obama,
Clinton needed to cement the impressions of Obama's weakness and her comeback by burying Obama in Indiana and holding his margin to low single digits in North Carolina. It hasn't happened.Her strategy In Indiana--- Clinton ditching her persona of worldly First Lady and policy wonk to re-invent herself as a tough, beer loving heroine of the working classes----didn't deliver the numbers needed.
If Obama still looks to be the leading candidate and emerged from the night better off, Indiana showed up his inability to finish off Clinton.
Peter,
Obama didn't bury Clinton. But she is on the ropes. She only scrapped through in the rustbelt state of Indiana, when she was expected to win easily.
Anybody who inists there is a marxian "social justice" agenda in the New Testament is both a philistine and an atheist. The New Testament is all about an individual's relationship with God. It is not about temporal material distribution mechanisms.
The REAL irony is in the fact that Marxism - and its au courrant postmodernist heirs - is the fourth Abrahamic religion. It is the Marxists and other leftists who should be searching The Bible for inpsiration, not vice-versa.
my goodness people its time to realize that we are all the same, we all bleed red! enough with this black president bullcrap! can we see past that? he is a great leader! and will win the election in 08! get to www.obamarocks08.com and register to vote!
Gary,
I guess that black theologans would make strong critiques of the White Christian church for ignoring or failing to address the problem of race (they did nothing to oppose slavery and segregation) in the US.