Introduction to Black Theology*

Required Readings:

Cone, James H., God of the Oppressed, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books 1997. 

Cone, James H., Black Theology and Black Power, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books 1997.

Cannon, Katie, Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community, New York, NY: Continuum Publishing. 1996.

Felder, Cain Hope, ed., Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.  1991.

Hopkins, Dwight, ed., Black Faith and Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999.

Hopkins, Dwight, Introduction Black Theology of Liberation Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999.

Roberts, J. Deotis, Liberation and Reconciliation, Louisville, KY: Westminster, 1971.

Thomas, Linda E., Living Stones in the House of God: The Legacy and Future of Black Theology  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. 2004.

Thurman, Howard, Jesus and the Disinherited, Richmond Indiana: Friends United Press 1976.

Recommended Reading:

Blount, Brian K. General Editor, True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. 2007.

Course objectives:

• To examine the development of Black Theology as a discipline and its impact on African American faith expression.
• To examine Black Theology as one of many theologies of oppressed people and their quest for personal and spiritual identity.
• To explicate the intricacies of Black Theology as a heterogeneous theological reaction to majority Christian perspective.
• To review its development and the current trends toward a theology of the oppressed inclusive of Liberation Theology, Womanist Theology and others.
• To examine the ways in which Black Theology influences Biblical interpretation/hermeneutics and African American preaching.

Course Requirements

• Class attendance is a must. Excused absence will be granted, but more than two absences will result in a 10% lowering of the grade. 
• Participation in class requires assigned readings and preparation to lead group discussion with a 15 minute overview of assigned topic.
• Two papers are required. Please see full outline for details.  All written assignments must conform to Hartford Seminary writing guidelines. Please check: www.hartsem.edu/student/forms/researchpaperguide.pdf.

Course Outline

September 10

Introduction and course overview.

September 17

The theology that arises from identification with the oppressed.

Required reading: God of the Oppressed (Cone).

September 24

The theology that arises from identification with the oppressed.                        

Required reading: Black Theology and Black Power (Cone).

October 1

Critical reflections: The current challenges of the Black Church and Black Theology. 

Required reading: Black Faith and Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power (Hopkins)

October 8

Critical reflections: The current challenges of the Black Church and Black Theology (continued). 

Required reading: Black Faith and  Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power (Hopkins)

October 15

God’s liberation.

Required reading: Liberation and Reconciliation (Roberts)

October 22

God’s liberation (continued).

Required reading: Liberation and Reconciliation (Roberts)

October 29

The quest for systematic theological thought. 

Required reading: Introduction to Black Theology of Liberation (Hopkins).

Assignment Due:

October 29

Each participant must write a comparative essay of two of James Cone’s books.   Participants should think critically as they attempt to explore the emergence of Black Theology as an academic discipline in the late sixties and early seventies.  How does Cone’s effort place in Biblical context the cultural and social upheaval that was being experienced in the United States at that time?  This paper should be no more than 10 pages. 

November 2 Special Session (details given in class)

November 5 

The quest for systematic theological thought (continued).

Required Reading: Introduction to Black Theology of Liberation (Hopkins)

November 12

Womanist Theology and its response to Black Theology 

Required reading: Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community (Canon).

November 19

Womanist Theology and its response to Black Theology (continued)

Required reading: Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community (Canon).

November 26

Toward a Black Biblical hermeneutic.

Required reading: Jesus and the Disinherited (Thurman)

December 3

Toward a Black Biblical hermeneutic.

Required reading: Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation (Felder)

December 10  

The future of Black Theology

Required reading: Living Stones in the House of God: The Legacy and Future of Black Theology (Thomas)

December 17

The future of Black Theology (continued.)

Required reading: Living Stones in the House of God: The Legacy and Future of Black Theology (Thomas)

Class Presentations

Assignment Due:

December 17

Each participant must present a final paper on one or more of the aspects of Black Theology and/or Womanist Theology.  This paper should reflect cogent research and should bring together the various pieces of literature discovered during your process of study in this class.  Students may use authors from the Selected Bibliography or may go outside the list with permission of the instructor.  Your topic must be reviewed with the instructor prior to beginning. 

Selected Bibliography

Cone, James H., Risks of Faith: The Emergence of a Black Theology of Liberation, 1968-1998. Boston, Mass: Beacon Press, 1999.

Cone, James H., A Black Theology of Liberation, 20th anniversary ed. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1990.

Cone, James H., and Gayraud S. Wilmore, eds. Black Theology: A Documentary History, Vol. I: 1966-1977. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1993.

Cone, James H., and Gayraud S. Wilmore, eds., Black Theology: A Documentary History, Vol. II 1980-1992.  Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1993.

Cummings, George C. L., A Common Journey: Black Theology (USA) and Latin American Liberation Theology. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1993.

Dyson, Michael Eric, Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black

Culture, Oxford University Press, 1996

Evans, James H., We have been Believers: An African-American Systematic Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

Felder, Cain Hope, Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family.  Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1989

Gilkes, Cheryl, If it wasn’t For the Women: Black Women’s Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community.  Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books.  2001

Grant, Jacqueline, White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist

Christology and Womanist Response, Oxford University Press, 2006.

Hopkins, Dwight N. Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion. Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2005.

Hopkins, Dwight N., Heart and Head: Black Theology—Past, Present, and Future. New York: Palgrave, 2002.

Hopkins, Dwight N., Down, Up, and Over: Slave Religion and Black Theology. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000.

Miller, Albert George. Elevating the Race: Theophilus G. Steward, Black Theology, and the Making of an African American Civil Society, 1865-1924. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2003.

Mitchem, Stephanie Y., Introducing Womanist Theology. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 2002.

Paris, Peter J., The Social Teaching of the Black Churches Philadelphia Pa.: Fortress Press, 1985.

Paris, Peter J., The Spirituality of African Peoples: The Search for a Common Moral Discourse, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1995.

Roberts, J. Deotis, and David Emmanuel Goatley, Black Religion, Black Theology: The Collected Essays of J. Deotis Roberts. Harrisburg Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2003.

Townes, Emilie Maureen, ed., A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering. Mayknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1993.

Weems, Renita J.,  Just A Sister Away: a Womanist Vision of Women’s Relationships in the Bible.  San Diego, CA: Lura Media. 1988.

Williams, Delores S., Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1993.