A Black Theology of Suffering

• If the concept of God has any validity or use,
• it can only be to make us larger, freer, and
• more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is
• time we got rid of Him.
  • James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

My theological insights and perspective have been shaped, first and foremost, by my personal, social and cultural experiences as a black American. Sunday School played an important role in my early spiritual formation. As a result, what I think about God, Jesus Christ, and the problem of evil and suffering in the world, is primarily informed by biblical knowledge. Additionally, black theologians continue to have a significant role in my emerging and expanding theology. This group includes Howard Thurman, Emilie Townes, and, most importantly, James Cone, the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Cone's work has had the most impact on helping me to develop a theology for suffering, especially as it relates to my identity as a black American.

Cone, regarded as the founder of black theology, published his seminal work, Black Theology and Black Power in 1969. Some of the themes in that book are continued and expanded in God of the Oppressed (1975). I read Black Theology and Black Power several years ago but found God of the Oppressed and Risks of Faith:The Emergence of A Black Theology of Liberation, 1968-1998 (1999) most influential on my own theological perspective. A persistent question for me has been: what do God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, and the Church have to say to me and others, especially black Americans, who live in a society in which racism and oppression persist with a vengeance? Racism is endemic to black suffering.

In the past I have taken hope from the following passage in the Gospel of Luke:

• The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
• he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
• He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
• and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
• oppressed go free... Luke 4:18

I have previously believed that the oppressed, particularly black Americans, would see an end to their suffering. And to a small degree, this has occurred. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is probably the most obvious example of dealing with the suffering of black Americans due to racism. However, evidence of the persistence of racism and white supremacy can still be found in every aspect of American society.

In God of the Oppressed, Cone argues that God in Christ became the Suffering Servant and assumed, on the cross, the suffering and humiliation of the oppressed as his own history. This decisive act "...liberated the oppressed to fight against suffering while not being determined by it.: This argument is particularly compelling because, while it has a biblical foundation, it does not promote a literal reading of the Gospel nor does it assert a false hope that suffering will end or that it is redemptive. What it does contend is that one will be able to resist the suffering caused by oppression and racism and not be destroyed by it.

Wendy Farley, a feminist theologian and ethicist, was apparently influenced by Cone whom she cites in the bibliography to her book, Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion (1990). Farley argues that there is no redemption in radical suffering, which "...pinches the spirit of the sufferer, numbing it and diminishing its range." She also argues that if suffering and destruction are beyond overcoming, they can be resisted. Farley writes: "It is in the resistance itself, in this refusal to give up the passion for justice, that tragedy is transcended" (p.27). Radical suffering, of which racism is an example, destroys its victims. It doesn't make its victims stronger, as Farley demonstrates. And, I would add, it certainly is not redemptive.

In his discussion of suffering, Cone also critiques white theologians whose theology has said little, if anything, about racism that would enable the oppressed to resist and defy the evils of racism. This omission by white theologians is due mainly, Cone argues in God of the Oppressed, to the fact that white theologians "...have been only spectators and not victims of suffering." Although the silence on race has been broken by scholars, including theologians, since 1975, Cone argues that theology is "virtually mute" on racism, which he describes as a "moral crisis." In Risks of Faith, Cone writes: "Even when white theologians reflect on God and suffering, the problem of theodicy, they almost never make racism a central issue in their analysis of the challenge that evil poses for the Christian faith...It is amazing that racism could be so prevalent and violent in American life and yet so absent in white theological discourse." Cone also challenges black theologians who, he suggests, have also been silent and "too gentle" in their opposition to racism. I believe Cone's admonitions are useful also for persons in ministry, for theologians, and for ordinary Christians.

Since I believe that ministry is a vital part of daily life, my theological perspective and reflections: especially regarding suffering, relate to the life-and-death issues of people in my everyday world. I take my baptismal covenant seriously and two questions in that covenant also impact my views now and will inform more fully my theology of suffering in my specific ministry: "Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" I believe that if one answers these questions affirmatively, one will experience becoming "...larger, freer, and more loving."