Last year at Emory we focused on James Cone's interpretation of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. He did most of his work during the civil rights movement and is a black liberation theologian. Most of his arguments that I read did not match up with Jeremiah Wright's view of a God who does not and cannot bless whites. However, looking back on it, Cone used a lot of language as God for the oppressed. I believe God is for the oppressed, but I think he's for all the oppressed and one could argue everyone born into a sinful world is oppressed. However, Cone goes onto say that Jesus cares deeply for the oppressed as shown in scripture, and that his actions were solely to lift the oppressed up, Christ was for the oppressed. Cone argued that Jesus was symbolically and literally black then, since at that point in history blacks were oppressed. Christ was black and conquered in order for the oppressed to conquer through his death and resurrection.
That's a very simple tidbit from Cone, and indeed it is controversial. My Systematics professor at Emory was quite brilliant, and I appreciated the opportunity to study this stuff, although I do believe Black Liberation Theology is outdated and filled with folly.
Cone wrote in the 1960s and 1970s, and then, blacks were oppressed in many places. However, one could make the argument that it is no longer blacks who are the most oppressed people, even if you limit your search to America. What about God of the Latino? God of the poor? God of the mentally challenged? We most likely will have a black president next week, how can people possibly hold onto the "White Devil" image when so much has changed? Racism goes both ways. In Atlanta, I think whites experience the same amount if not more racism thrown at them than Blacks. And why?
Perhaps people like Wright, who profit off of Racism and make careers out of hatred of the past have a lot of power of the mindset of Racism in this country. Either way, Black Liberation Theology started off as a platform for talking points in the civil rights era and never should have been considered to be proper theology, only a place where current issues can be brought up. Even with noble issues like civil rights, I think people like James Cone do a disservice to the Church when they make Church about only one issue and limit their doctrines to look through one pair of glasses. Dr. King would not have tainted the Christian message for promotion of civil rights, he was smart enough to preserve the importance of both without marrying them into an improper and ill-conceived marriage.
The God of the Bible and of sound theology is not one who harbors hate and ignorance in the name of injustice. God blesses America, the whites, the blacks, the latinos, and in many way blesses anyone and everyone. People like Jeremiah Wright should not impede the march of equality or promote a hateful, man-made God that only exists for the purpose of one race. Dr. Wright, stop the hypocrisy, stop the hate, and stop your backward ways for the benefit of all the world and every race.
That's a very simple tidbit from Cone, and indeed it is controversial. My Systematics professor at Emory was quite brilliant, and I appreciated the opportunity to study this stuff, although I do believe Black Liberation Theology is outdated and filled with folly.
Cone wrote in the 1960s and 1970s, and then, blacks were oppressed in many places. However, one could make the argument that it is no longer blacks who are the most oppressed people, even if you limit your search to America. What about God of the Latino? God of the poor? God of the mentally challenged? We most likely will have a black president next week, how can people possibly hold onto the "White Devil" image when so much has changed? Racism goes both ways. In Atlanta, I think whites experience the same amount if not more racism thrown at them than Blacks. And why?
Perhaps people like Wright, who profit off of Racism and make careers out of hatred of the past have a lot of power of the mindset of Racism in this country. Either way, Black Liberation Theology started off as a platform for talking points in the civil rights era and never should have been considered to be proper theology, only a place where current issues can be brought up. Even with noble issues like civil rights, I think people like James Cone do a disservice to the Church when they make Church about only one issue and limit their doctrines to look through one pair of glasses. Dr. King would not have tainted the Christian message for promotion of civil rights, he was smart enough to preserve the importance of both without marrying them into an improper and ill-conceived marriage.
The God of the Bible and of sound theology is not one who harbors hate and ignorance in the name of injustice. God blesses America, the whites, the blacks, the latinos, and in many way blesses anyone and everyone. People like Jeremiah Wright should not impede the march of equality or promote a hateful, man-made God that only exists for the purpose of one race. Dr. Wright, stop the hypocrisy, stop the hate, and stop your backward ways for the benefit of all the world and every race.
My Hebrew professor used this term in reference to the "new discoveries" that come out every single year, such as James Cameron's Jesus Box. I got to see the Jesus box the other week in Emory Origins of Christianity exhibit at Carlos Museum, it was pretty cool. What's even cooler is that Cameron made so much money of the boxes he found in Jerusalem, not Nazareth, with two of the most common names in antiquity. As my professor says about it, "It's tantalizing, but not true."
Things are going pretty well here in Atlanta. I haven't blogged in a very long time, I'll try to keep up. Emory is really fun, and the professors are all really good. It's weird coming from LU to here, but its a good kind of weird. Its been fun to be with lots of people with similar interests and different ideas and talents regarding Biblical Studies.
Kare and I also found a good church just a block over from our apartment. There are some nice couples there that are fun to hang out with.
It's Friday, the cat is sleeping, and I think that's a darn good idea. Until next time...
Things are going pretty well here in Atlanta. I haven't blogged in a very long time, I'll try to keep up. Emory is really fun, and the professors are all really good. It's weird coming from LU to here, but its a good kind of weird. Its been fun to be with lots of people with similar interests and different ideas and talents regarding Biblical Studies.
Kare and I also found a good church just a block over from our apartment. There are some nice couples there that are fun to hang out with.
It's Friday, the cat is sleeping, and I think that's a darn good idea. Until next time...
