The Rise and Demise of Black Theology

Description

Black Theology emerged in the 1960s as a response to black consciousness. In South Africa it is a critique of power; in the UK it is a political theology of black culture. The dominant form of Black Theology has been in the USA, originally influenced by Black Power and the critique of white racism. Since then it claims to have broadened its perspective to include oppression on the grounds of race, gender and class. In this book the author contests this claim, especially by Womanist (black women) Theology. Black and Womanist Theologies present inadequate analyses of race and gender and no account at all of class (economic) oppression. With a few notable exceptions Black Theology in the USA repeats the mantras of the 1970s, the discourse of modernity. Content with American capitalism it fails to address the source of the impoverishment of black Americans at home. Content with a romantic imaginaire of Africa, this 'African-American' movement fails to defend contemporary Africa against predatory American global ambitions. Cover Title Copyright Contents Introduction: Beyond the Mantras 1 Assimilation and Alienation: Double Consciousness Negritude Black Consciousness 2 Sickness in Babylon: Black Theology in the USA Black Power Black Theology 3 The Redemption of the Poor: Black Theology in South Africa The Black Consciousness Movement Black Theology, Class and Power 4 As Purple is to Lavender: Womanist Theology Womanist Consciousness Womanist Theology 5 The Concept of Dread: Black Theology in the UK To the Motherland Jesus in Dreadlocks 6 Gender, Race and Class: the Closed Circle of Black Theology Race and Reification The Ideology of Retrieval Conclusion: an Obituary A Radical Race Critique Unmet Needs Bibliography Name Index Subject Index