James Cone speaks very clearly about how his experiences with racism and racist systems caused him to rethink how he interacted with theology. As I read God of the Oppressed it became evident that Cone has a black rage that “forces” him to revisit some of the work of previous theologians that never had to deal with issues such as lynching. It was through this particular lens that Cone begins to understand that theology is influenced by experience. Cone’s existential reality captures the tension of what it feels like to love God but wrestle with blackness. In Baldwin’s work it is hidden in the lines of his phenomenal written. As it writes about his black rage, it is hidden in the rage against his father. In his work such as Notes of Native Son, Baldwin locates his anger with his father but appears to aim it toward God. Baldwin writes, “It seemed to me that God himself had devised, to mark my father’s end, the most sustained
James Cone speaks very clearly about how his experiences with racism and racist systems caused him to rethink how he interacted with theology. As I read God of the Oppressed it became evident that Cone has a black rage that “forces” him to revisit some of the work of previous theologians that never had to deal with issues such as lynching. It was through this particular lens that Cone begins to understand that theology is influenced by experience. Cone’s existential reality captures the tension of what it feels like to love God but wrestle with blackness. In Baldwin’s work it is hidden in the lines of his phenomenal written. As it writes about his black rage, it is hidden in the rage against his father. In his work such as Notes of Native Son, Baldwin locates his anger with his father but appears to aim it toward God. Baldwin writes, “It seemed to me that God himself had devised, to mark my father’s end, the most sustained