"Excellent . . . Dr. Cone has opened the door to a universal theology."- The Christian Century
“God of the Oppressed, a theological masterpiece by James H. Cone, the most important theologian of the twentieth century and the celebrated father of Black liberation theology, continues to inspire and guide us. Cone’s Black liberation theology, born out of the civil rights and Black Power movements, offers a timeless perspective on the enduring struggle of suffering in the Black experience and the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. Fifty years later, Cone reminds us that racism is America’s original sin, white Euro-American theology must reckon with its silence, and the Christian church must repent for its complicity.” —Melanie Jones Quarles, PhD, Inaugural Director of The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership, Union Presbyterian Seminary
“With the publication of God of the Oppressed, James Cone did more than inaugurate Black theology as an academic discipline. He reoriented the heart of Christian theology toward the cries of the crucified and the courage of the Black struggle for freedom. To declare Christ is Black, Cone insisted, is to affirm that no gospel in America can be true unless it bears witness to the God who liberates the oppressed from within their history, their culture, and their suffering.”—Adam Clark, PhD, director, Take It On: Initiative for Civic Engagement
First published in 1975, God of the Oppressed remains a landmark in the development of Black Theology—the first effort to present a systematic theology drawing fully on the resources of African-American religion and culture. In his reflections on God, Jesus, suffering, and liberation, Cone relates the gospel message to the experience of the Black community. But a wider theme of the book is the role that social and historical context plays in framing the questions we address to God, as well as the mode of the answers provided.
James H. Cone, who died in 2018, was Bill and Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, NYC. His many books include Black Theology & Black Power and a modern classic, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, winner of the 2018 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Anthony G. Reddie is professor of Black theology and director of the Centre for Black Theology, Oxford University. He is the author of Introducing James H. Cone: A Personal Exploration.
ISBN: 978-1-62698-622-0
Cover design: Michael Calvente
Icon by Robert Lentz, OFM, used with permission
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