The 19th Century Roots of Black Liberation Theology and Critical Race Theory

Via Carl

While Critical Race Theory and Black Liberation Theology are 20^th century creations, the cultural and theological roots of these ideas find a clear path back to the mid 1800’s. Black Liberation Theology is credited principally to James H. Cone, who was a leftist African-American teacher and theologian at Union theological Seminary in New York, but in many ways, it just built on what had come before it. This school of thought sees the Christian mission as bringing justice to oppressed people through political activism and recasts Jesus as the political liberator of oppressed Black masses (Let Us Reason Ministries 2009).  Black Liberation theology portrays Jesus as a poor black man who lived under the oppression of “rich white people”. The notion of “Blackness” is not merely a reference to skin color, but rather is a symbol of oppression that can be applied to all persons of color who have a history of oppression (Bradley 2010, 17-35). Cone further explains the core beliefs of Black Liberation Theology by saying, 

“Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.” (West 2003)

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