Liberating Black Theology

The Bible and the Black Experience in America

ANTHONY B. BRADLEY

wheaton, illinois

Liberating Black Theology: The Bible and the Black Experience in America

Copyright © 2010 by Anthony B. Bradley

Published by Crossway Books

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Dual Identity inc.

First printing, 2010

All Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible: English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1147-9

ISBN-10: 1-4335-1147-9

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-1148-6

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-1149-3

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2355-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bradley, Anthony B., 1971–

Liberating Black theology : the Bible and the Black experience in America / Anthony B. Bradley.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 1-4335-1147-9 (tpb) — ISBN 978-1-4335-1148-6

1. Black theology. 2. African Americans—Religion. 3. Black power—United States. 4. Liberation theology—United States. 5. Cone, James H. 6. Victims of crimes—United States. I. Title.

BT82.7.B725 2010

230.089'96073—dc22

2009026653

To my parents,

Walter and Delores Bradley,

and to

Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia,

where I first learned about black liberation theology.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Setting the Stage: Defining Terms and Theological Distinctions

2 America the Broken: Cone’s Sociopolitical Ethical Context

3 Cone’s Theological Scaffolding

4 Victimology in the Marxist Ethics of Black Theology

5 Biblical Interpretation and the Black Experience

6 Is There a Future for Black Liberation Theology?

Further Reading

Scripture Index

General Index

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful and indebted to many people, without whose encouragement and aid this book never would have been completed: to Dr. K. Scott Oliphint and Dr. William Edgar for their patient long-suffering as they worked to shape my studies at Westminster Theological Seminary and make this project address critical issues; to Dr. Stuart Silvers, Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University who is solely responsible for flipping my brain’s ignition switch; to the other three members of the “Fab 4,” my fellow students Lane Tipton, Travis Campbell, and Flavien Pardigon; to my friends at the Institute for Human Studies at George Mason University for giving me timely categories to think critically about social ethics; to my friends and colleagues at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, especially Rev. Robert Sirico, Kris Mauren, Jerry Zandstra, and ...