Hitchhiker's Guide to Religion
Black Church

James Cone

Architect of Black Liberation Theology

Black Church Systematic theology, the Black experience as theological source, the cross and the lynching tree
Portrait of James Cone
Portrait of James Cone
Rank Theologian / Professor at Union Theological Seminary / Founder of Black Liberation Theology as an academic discipline
Domain Systematic theology, the Black experience as theological source, the cross and the lynching tree
Alignment Holy / Liberation
Power MYTHIC 90

Attributes

ATK
90
DEF
80
SPR
92
SPD
70
INT
99
CHA
99
WIS
99
END
91

Combat Profile

ATK DEF SPR SPD INT CHA WIS END
Special Move

Liberation Exegesis

reveals hidden theological truths within oppressed communities' experiences and transforms suffering into prophetic witness.

Passive

Cruciform Witness

all teachings bear the mark of Christ's suffering and solidarity with the condemned, illuminating divine justice through the lens of the lynched and marginalized.

Weakness

Early work (1969-1975) was deliberately confrontational and criticized for inadequately engaging Black women's experience -- a critique he accepted and which shaped womanist theology's emergence

“The cross and the lynching tree interpret each other. Both were public spectacles, shameful events, instruments of punishment reserved for the most despised people in society.” — Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree

1 min read
Primary Source

Cone, *Black Theology and Black Power* (1969); *A Black Theology of Liberation* (1970); *God of the Oppressed* (1975); *The Cross and the Lynching Tree* (2011); *Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody* (2018, posthumous)

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