The Identity Crisis in Black Theology - Report Example

The Identity Crisis in Black Theology The origins of modern black theology especially that related to the liberationcan be traced to the efforts of the National Committee of Negro Churchmen in their proposal for a new aggressive approach to combat racism using biblical inspiration. Black theology in the modern world came to be used by such prominent clergymen as Martin Luther King Jr. as an aspect of the liberation struggle against the racism against black people that had been prevalent in the United States, especially since the Emancipation period. King used the Exodus narrative extensively in his quest to achieve racial justice for the black people in America and often compared the escape of the Israelites from Egypt and their subsequent challenges in gaining their promised land to the freedom of black people from slavery to the challenges they were facing in their attempt to achieve racial justice. It has been noted that King often used plenty of biblical references not only to fight for social and racial justice for black people, but also as a means of providing hope that the aspirations of the black people would be achieved in future.1 He used the themes of hope found in the bible to inspire the black people in the United States to fight for their rights so that their equal status to the whites could be recognized. King was completely influenced by his faith in his attempt to ensure that his political and social agendas were propagated since it is evident in his commitment to social justice as well as his abhorrence of war and militarism, the latter which he did not consider to be the right means of achieving freedom. It was King’s vision that all forms of colonialism and imperialism as well as poverty and privation would be brought to an end and this was mainly because of the fact that it was the black race which had come to be adversely affected by them. The result of his convictions, therefore, was his crusade to ensure that these negative aspects of white dominance were brought to an end and that all the black people in the world could finally escape the various forms of slavery and discrimination that they had endured for many years.2 Among the most memorable events that steered King into the national limelight was when he took up leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and this, as well as his use of references from his faith is what led to his deeper involvement in the Civil Rights Movement which was an attempt to end the discriminative nature of American social life. King believed that the black people, or the Negro, had the right to enjoy all the privileges that were available not only in the United States, but in the whole world since they were equal to the white race in every aspect. King was an opponent of the belief, often propagated by white racists, that black people were subhuman; that they were more like animals that human beings and therefore had to be treated as such. King opposed such sentiments, comparing black discrimination and segregation to the suffering undergone by the Israelites in Egypt. King preached a message of hope to all the black people in the world that a time would come when, like the Israelites in Egypt, they would gain their freedom and attain their quest for racial justice that began after Emancipation. While King was against the employment of any violent or militant means in the attainment of racial and social justice, he was a proponent of the use of civil disobedience as a means of achieving his aims. This was because of the fact that he was extremely influenced by his faith, especially by the way through which Jesus could achieve his objectives without shedding any blood, even though he had the ability to do so. Like the Israelites in Egypt and later when they occupied the land of Canaan, King led increasingly provocative nonviolent episodes of civil disobedience. An instance of this was when he responded to the violently aggressive tactics of police commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor with increasing boldness in street demonstrations. Unlike other black leaders of his time, King used the mass arrests and violence against demonstrators by the southern law police and white hooligans as a way of publicizing the oppression that black people had to undergo in the United States. King used these events as a means of getting the government’s attention since most of them were publicized at an international level and these resulted, in part, in the Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.3 It was King’s experience of black discrimination outside the South, on a visit to Los Angeles after the Watts riot, which stiffened his resolve to spread his campaign to the national level. The fact that most of the black people in the United States were discriminated against is one of the reasons why he chose to broaden his quest so that he not only sought social justice, but he also included economic empowerment and an end of poverty in his agenda. The traditional Negro approach to the attainment of social justice tended to be weak and subservient to the interests of the white people who dominated the United States and did not seek any change to the status quo since quite a number of black people believed that it could not be attained. The black power movement, on the other hand, propagated the idea of increased radicalism and militancy in order to attain their objective of social justice for all the black people in the United States. King, however, was opposed to both approaches since neither of them could achieve what they sought in the proper manner as the first was too moderate while the latter approach was too radical and would lead to the further alienation of the black race.4 King guided by the black liberation theology that had become prevalent at the time, decided to take a different approach to tackle various social issues affecting black people in the United States. He became more radical in his seeking economic and social justice for the black people not only through his efforts for open housing in Chicago, but also for his plans to lead a Poor People’s Campaign as well as to lead a march on Washington. While his more radical approach to social justice was received with hostility by the American government as well as some of his allies, King pushed on with it believing, according to his faith, that he had to stand up for what was right despite the thoughts of other people concerning his actions. Black liberation theology was prominent in promoting the continued struggle of the black people in the United States to reconcile their faith and the love of God to the suffering that they underwent in their daily lives because of social injustice. Black theology often questioned the suffering that black people had to undergo and a common belief among blacks at the time was that despite the love that God had for all human beings, the black people had been cast down too far. King, who was inspired by this theology, confronted the evil that was white supremacy and was among the first to condemn it as one of the worst moral evils in American society. The movement which came about due to King’s moral convictions is what led to the destruction of the legal segregation that was prevalent in the South. King can be considered to have been the embodiment of black faith since he propagated the ideas of love, justice, and hope. He combined the American practice of self-determination with the biblical belief of justice as found in the Old Testament as well as the life of Jesus.5 It was from these three perspectives that King developed a radical application of nonviolence that was effective in challenging all Americans to create the ideal society in which all the people within it are equal. As a Christian, King believed that there could be no liberation without suffering and that through nonviolent suffering black people would liberate themselves from the bitterness and the feeling of lowliness toward whites. In addition, through the use of nonviolent means, the black people could inspire the conscience of the white people who would end up being liberated from their feeling of superiority, which was the biggest threat to social justice in the United States. In conclusion, in line with his theological vision, King rejected the idea of black power believing that it was based on aspects of revenge and hate. As a believer in an American society of blacks and whites who live side by side with love, he was a proponent of the nonviolent method of achieving social justice as violence could only lead to more bitterness and divisions. He felt that only love, expressed through nonviolence, could lead to the union of the two races in matters concerning social justice as this would result in the formation of a society based on equality. One of the most famous statements attributed to King was that he would keep on preaching nonviolence even if he became its only supporter. Bibliography Cone, James H. 2008. God and black suffering: Calling the oppressors to account. Anglican Theological Review 90, no. 4: 701-712. Simpson, William M. 2010. Martin Luther king and the rhetoric of freedom: The exodus narrative in americas struggle for civil Rights/King: Pilgrimage to the mountaintop. The Journal of Southern History 76, no. 1: 209-211. Stenberg, Shari J. 2006. Liberation theology and liberatory pedagogies: Renewing the dialogue. College English 68, no. 3: 271-290. West, William C. 2000. Socrates as a model of civil disobedience in the writings of Martin Luther king, Jr. Classical Bulletin 76, no. 2: 191-200. Wolfson, Adam and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. 2003. The martin luther king we remember. Public Interest no. 152: 39. Read More