James H. Cone: Quotes about God

“For the gospel proclaims that God is with us now, actively fighting the forces which would make man captive. And it is the task of theology and the Church to know where God is at work so that we can join him in this fight against evil. In America we know where the evil is. We know that men are shot and lynched. We know that men are crammed into ghettos…. There is a constant battle between Christ and Satan, and it is going on now. If we make this message contemporaneous with our own life situation, what does Christ's defeat of Satan mean for us?… The demonic forces of racism are real for the black man. Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil." The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces.”

James H. Cone

Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), pp. 39-41

Life , Men , God , Evil

“A God minus wrath seems to be a God who is basically not against anything.”

James H. Cone

Source: A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), p. 73

God

“As ambassadors of Jesus Christ, Christians have no choice but to join the movement of liberation on the side of the poor, fighting against the structures of injustice. Faith in Jesus Christ, therefore, is not only an affirmation that we utter in Sunday worship and at other church gatherings. Faith is a commitment, a deeply felt experience of being called by the Spirit of Christ to bear witness to God's coming liberation by fighting for the freedom of the poor now.”

James H. Cone

Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), p. v

God , Faith , Freedom , Christ

“By focusing on Scripture, theology is granted the freedom to take seriously its social and political situation without being determined by it. Thus the question is not whether we take seriously our social existence but how and In what way we take It seriously. Whose social situation does our theology represent? For whom do we speak? … We are forced by Scripture itself to focus on our social existence, but not merely in terms of our own interests. … There can be no Christian speech about God which does not represent the interest of the victims in our society.”

James H. Cone

Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), pp. 7-8

God , Way , Question , Freedom

“To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!”

James H. Cone

Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), pp. 139-140

God , People

“Is it possible to understand what God's love means for the oppressed without making wrath an essential ingredient of that love? What could love possibly mean in a racist society except the righteous condemnation of everything racist? Most theological treatments of God's love fail to place the proper emphasis on God's wrath, suggesting that love is completely self-giving without any demand for obedience.”

James H. Cone

Source: A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), p. 73

Love , God , Understanding

“Any talk about God that fails to make God's liberation of the oppressed its starting point is not Christian.”

James H. Cone

Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), p. 4

God

“Black theology cannot accept a view of God which does not represent God as being for oppressed blacks and thus against white oppressors. Living in a world of white oppressors, blacks have no time for a neutral God. The brutalities are too great and the pain too severe, and this means we must know where God is and what God is doing in the revolution. There is no use for a God who loves white oppressors the same as oppressed blacks. We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject God's love.”

James H. Cone

Source: A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), p. 70

Love , God , Pain , World

“The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples. Either God is identified with the oppressed to the point that their experience becomes God's experience, or God is a God of racism. … The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God's own condition. This is the essence of the Biblical revelation. By electing Israelite slaves as the people of God and by becoming the Oppressed One in Jesus Christ, the human race is made to understand that God is known where human beings experience humiliation and suffering…Liberation is not an afterthought, but the very essence of divine activity.”

James H. Cone

Source: A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), pp. 63-64

God , People , Understanding , Suffering

“By becoming poor and entrusting divine revelation to a carpenter from Nazareth, God makes clear where one has to be in order to hear the divine word and experience divine presence.”

James H. Cone

Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), p. 9

God

“If the church … does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?”

James H. Cone

Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), p. 6

God

“As long as man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve God with mature responsibility. He is not free to become what he is—human.”

James H. Cone

Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), p. 39

God

“In Christ, God enters human affairs and takes sides with the oppressed. Their suffering becomes his; their despair, divine despair. Through Christ the poor man is offered freedom now to rebel against that which makes him other than human.”

James H. Cone

Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), p. 36

Despair , God , Freedom , Suffering

“The dialectic between the social situation of the believer and Scripture and the traditions of the Church is the place to begin the investigation of the question, Who is Jesus Christ for us today? Social context, Scripture, and tradition operate together to enable the people of God to move actively and reflectively with Christ in the struggle of freedom.”

James H. Cone

Source: God of the Oppressed (1975, 1997), p. 115 (1975 edition)

God , Freedom , People , Question

“This is the dialectic of Christian thought: God enters into the social context of human existence and appropriates the ideas and actions of the oppressed as his own. When this event of liberation occurs in thought and praxis, the words and actions of the oppressed become the Word and Action of God. They no longer belong to the oppressed. Indeed, the word of the oppressed becomes God’s Word insofar as the former recognize it not as their own but as given to them through divine grace.”

James H. Cone

Source: God of the Oppressed (1975, 1997), p. 98-99 (1975 edition)

God , Idea