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The Cross And The Lynching Tree Chapter Summary

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The Cross and the Lynching Tree The Cross and the Lynching tree is a recent work from James H. Cone. Currently a Systematic Theology professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he is renowned as a founder of black liberation theology. In this book, he reflects on the most brutal chapter of white racism in the 20th century America where 5,000 innocent blacks were lynched to death by white mobs. And he tells us how blacks were able to survive the unspeakable reality of violence and torture with faith and hope in Christ. As a witness for blacks who were voiceless and ignored, he speaks out against the white church for saying little about slavery and racial justice. His passion for social justice comes from growing up in Arkansas in the Jim Crow era. The memories of his father and lynch mobs never left him. Black church comforted him, but made him wonder. “If the white churches are Christian, how come they segregate us? And if God is God, why is He letting us suffer?” (1) The lifelong quest for answers to these questions shaped his theology …show more content…

LeAnn Snow Flesher, an Old Testament professor at American Baptist Seminary of the West lauds his theology as something open and honest protest to their white male perspective, that emphasize the cross of redemption without naming the tragedy of violence on lynching trees. (4) Critics say he developed a divisive and racist theology out of the bitterness of growing up in segregation in 1960’s. James Ellis, III, the senior pastor of a nondenominational congregation in Washington D.C. says “For Christians, white cannot be synonymous with evil nor black with good, or vice versa. That sort of rhetoric has no place in the kingdom of God.” He asserts the racial peace comes not from condemnation of whites, but from the reconciliation with God.

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In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to “A Call for Unity,” a declaration by eight clergymen, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. Through powerful, emotionally-loaded diction, syntax, and figurative language, King adopts a disheartened tone later shifts into a determined tone in order to express and reflect on his disappointment with the church’s inaction and his goals for the future. King begins this section by bluntly stating that he is “greatly disappointed” (33) with the church, though he “will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen” (33). By appealing to ethos and informing the audience of his history with the church, he indicates that he is not criticizing the church for his own sake, but for the good of the church.

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He received a B.A. degree from Philander Smith College in Arkansas in 1958, a B.D. degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1961, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College, Adrian College in Michigan, and beginning in 1970 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology in 1977. He taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College, Adrian College in Michigan, and beginning in 1970 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology in 1977. The thesis of this book is that one's social and historical context decides not only the questions 2 we address to God but also the mode or form of the

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He used the American Catholic Tribune, his newspaper, as a vehicle to raise awareness about injustices like racial oppression, racial violence, and economic injustice. In short, he believed everyone was created equally and in God’s image and likeness. He believed strongly in The Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching on Equality and Differences among Men; “Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design” (Catholic 523). He was a passionate supporter of the NAACP and actively engaged in campaigns to end the widespread violence and discrimination that African Americans experience in the South and across the nation.

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Stump’s two constraints of suffering, argues Draper, could not be taken place automatically in human experience. There is a group of people who cannot be justified by the negative benefit of harm prevention since they are sufficiently far away from the process of sanctification, and from the treatment of permanent separation with God. There are also those who do not consent to suffer for the future benefit of deeper union with God . Moreover, it is quite difficult to know how God knows exactly the human reaction to situations of suffering before allowing

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The criticism made by the these eight clergyman epitomize the idea of whiteness and white privilege. Rather than to offer assistance and guidance for King and his efforts to diminish racial injustices prevalent in the South, they, instead, offer criticism in an attempt to depreciate King’s fight for racial equity. This rhetoric has occurred often throughout American history, where we see white individuals devaluing and hindering the progress made by individuals of color. For example, one of the critiques that King received was that The Negro community should be more patient and wait for society to move gradually toward civil rights. What white individuals fail to understand is that there is no such thing

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However, the church is failing to show the love of God to people of color. This relates to the the Holocaust because the Nazi regime thought Jews were inferior, and they dehumanized them. Garrison is calling out the church leaders to more aware of and empathic for their fellow human

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King touches the reader’s emotions and feelings towards the issue and goes into a more personal aspect of this problem, by sharing examples not only as an African American but as a father. In his letter King explains the hardship the regular African American has to go carry everyday due to the segregation of races, the financial status that predominates the African American community, being generally disposed from their names and being replace with “nigger boy” or “nigger man,” being neglected the entrance to public places due to their skin color, to explaining to their children why they can’t live the same way as the other children. (King 167) King uses this strategy to cause the white Clergymen see more vividly the hardships African Americans have to carry with themselves. King spend a vast amount of time emphasizing with the burden that is put on African American children, perhaps King tried to touch upon a topic the Clergymen could relate to and find some empathy with his argument.

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Jonathan T. Stoner Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen HT501: The Church’s Understanding of God and Christ in Its Theological Reflection June 9, 2016 CRITICAL RESPONSE # 3: James Cone’s A Black Theology of Liberation James Cone’s black liberation theology was his response to what he and many in the black community saw as the bankruptcy of the theology of white theologians, which was blind to black suffering while knowingly or unknowingly propping up the white-supremacist theology that had been the status quo in the United States since our nation’s founding. In A Black Theology of Liberation, which was his follow-up to God of the Oppressed, he fleshed out his black liberation theology that was rooted in the experience, cultural heritage, and distinctive

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MLK’s ultimate claim is that the church is to blame for these happenings and “the judgement of God is upon the Church as never before”(276). King stated how even the people who were in the church trying to fight for justice had been looked down upon and some had been kicked out of their own churches. King’s claims were passionately presented. He relentlessly provided evidence to prove his position on the issue of injustice and also showed ample amounts of examples to solve these problems.

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He is composed, collective, and calm when writing his letter to the clergymen, and effectively used stirring diction and syntax to enlighten his audience on his mission towards racial justice that God Himself approves of. His letter is a testimonial to a black person’s life in America, where “we [black americans] creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter” (para 13). His letter was history in the making with every stroke of the pen. It truly showed that the pen is mightier than the the

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During the civil rights era, the black church stood as a foundation for the African American community. It was a safe haven for those who felt like they didn’t have a voice outside of the church. The black church used to be a political atmosphere especially for those advocating black rights. It gave blacks the pedestal to vocalize the issues in the community and in the world to the oppressed. This was during a time when African Americans received no respect and were placed at the feet of injustice by the American society.

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He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

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The Reality of Religion Religion is a thing that brings people together, but in some cases, it’s the very force that tears people apart. When people are first introduced to it, it can either be a blessing or burden. In the narrative Blackboy, by Richard Wright, Richard describes his life growing up in the South during Jim Crow laws. He faces a great deal of oppression during his lifetime, but some of the most difficult conflicts he faces are with religion and his own family. Since a young age, Richard’s family was very religious, and they wanted Richard to follow in this path as well.

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The victimization of fears and securities is a main weapon in the belt of those who wish to lead and conquer. This is proved when in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses dark imagery and tone, telling the congregation, “O, Sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it” (156).

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This reference in particular evokes the strongest emotional response from black people because many African Americans revered Lincoln for his decision to sign the revolutionary Emancipation Proclamation, and how the document symbolized a free future for slaves--the ancestors of the blacks in the crowd. But the next few lines following this allusion also persuades those ignorant of how little things have changed by highlighting the “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” that blacks still suffer from despite the hundred year gap. Here, he uses the connotations of “manacles” and “chains” to evoke a negative emotional response from the audience, especially from those unaware of the need to change, causing their opinion to match the speaker’s: against segregation. Additionally, King weaves biblical allusions into his speech to appeal to the Christians within the crowd. He uses the “dark and desolate valley of segregation” to illustrate the injustice African Americans have endured for centuries and juxtapositions it with the “sunlit path of racial justice” to exemplify a future where true freedom exists for

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