James Cone’s Symbolism In Black Theology

James Cone, an American theologian, is best known for his advocacy of black theology, which focuses on the lives and experiences of black people. Throughout God of the Oppressed and Bill Moyers interview, Cone uses symbols to narrate black theology. The symbols he uses are the lynching tree, Jesus, the Israelites, and folk stories. The lynching tree symbolizes the reflection of the reality of black people, Jesus and the Israelites function as a symbol of hope, and folk stories round off the main idea of black theology.

To start, James Cone significantly represents the lynching tree in his interview with Bill Moyers. The lynching tree is a historical and theological reflection on the harsh reality of black life in the lynching era, which was around the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Cone mentions that blacks faced the ever-present threat of death by lynching regularly in the interview. Cone recounts the history of lynching in the Southern states briefly, and it serves as useful background information for those listening to understand the history of lynching in America. One of Cone’s main arguments in his book God of the Oppressed is that white people cannot and will not ever be able to interpret black theology on the same level that blacks can. Through the use of the lynching tree, it shows a prime example of how white people cannot understand what is it like being lynched as whites were not being oppressed during that time period. Furthermore, the lynching tree represents the social hierarchy that was present at the time. According to Cone, if black people tried to “branch out” and become more prominent in society, white people would lynch them. “They did not lynch them during the time of slavery. It is after slavery. And it is in order to control the community. It is to put fear and terror in their hearts so that they would be forced to obey and stay out in the fields and work and not loiter. And to remember that whites controlled the world”(p.17). Given this message from Cone, white people cannot fully understand black theology as they have never been on the negative side of the inhumane act, one group of people put on another. Black theology is the stories and experiences blacks lived through regularly, and if you were not living it, there is no way to understand black theology besides learning the concept of it thoroughly.

Next, Jesus functions as a symbol of hope for black people in times of oppression. In white theology, however, the interpretation of Jesus is that of oppression itself. Jesus wanted slaves to be obedient, in accordance with white theology, because he was obedient during his execution and was a humble and sweet, washing the feet of his disciples. He was lowering himself to a level equivalent to that of dirt, essentially. Hence, why the slaves should be willing to do work without question; after all, if they wanted to be seen as good, they would have to be as Jesus was. Without this religious backing, it would have been more difficult for whites to justify slavery. Contrary to white beliefs, Jesus provides blacks with hope from black political and social struggle. “Through Jesus Christ, they could know that they were people, even though they were bought and sold like cattle. Jesus Christ was that reality who invaded their history from beyond and bestowed upon them a definition of humanity that could not be destroyed by the whip and the pistol” (p.31). Jesus Christ lived a similar life to the blacks being oppressed. For so long, he was forced to evade those who hated him so much they wished to kill him. Even though he was hated so much, after Jesus died on the cross, he was resurrected and is now one of the biggest names in Christianity, and the world in general. In black theology, there is the hope that someday, blacks will rise in the ranks of the hierarchy of society and be treated much better as a result. “He is the eternal event of liberation in the divine person who makes freedom a constituent of human existence...human beings struggle for freedom and refuse to be defined by unauthorized earthly authorities, there Jesus Christ is present among them. His presence is the sustaining and liberating event in the lives of the oppressed that makes possible the continued struggle for freedom” (p.32). Since Jesus gives blacks their humanity during times of oppression, Cone argues that blackness and divinity are united with Jesus as the unifying source. Given all this, Jesus is the main symbol of black theology.

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The Israelites are another symbol Cone uses to describe black theology. In Egypt, God saved the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. They, like blacks, were forced into years of slavery. According to Cone, blacks believed that one day, they would be freed when slavery was still going on in America as it was God’s duty to do so. “The record shows clearly that black slaves believed that just as God had delivered Moses and the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, God also will deliver black people from American slavery. Moreover, they expressed that theological truth in song(p.10).” The Israelites are a symbol of black theology as it pieces together the relationship between whites and blacks in the time of slavery. Given that the Israelites were successful in getting out of slavery in Egypt through the power of God, Cone feels that black people will have the same luck from God. Race issues and the Bible can go hand in hand and God’s liberation of the oppressed can be seen as a central theme throughout the Bible. This is one of the reasons that the Bible was so beloved by the black community in America and continues to this day. As testimony, God is angered by and concerned with the poor and oppressed, as shown in Egypt. Since the blacks are the poor and oppressed, God sides with them. This has been shown throughout society today as blacks have been better suited to do well in today’s society by being given the same opportunity as whites when it comes to education and job opportunities. All in all, the Israelites symbolize black theology through the hope of salvation/escape from slavery.

Finally, the premise of James Cone’s symbolism in black theology is through the use of folk stories. The idea of a Folk story is in Cone’s official definition of black theology: “Black Theology is a theology of and for black people, an examination of their stories’ tales, and stories. It is an investigation of the mind into the raw materials of our pilgrimage, telling the story of “how we got over” (p.17). The folk story gives off the intention of bringing light to black people, and more and more white people learn about their past being oppressed. Folk stories are not just for the purpose of being solemn, but for the past history to relate to Christianity from their point of view. Cone argues that the Bible is used as a baseline of white christianity, and the stories in the Bible are told from the perspective of white people. “Black theologians must also make similar distinctions in using the sermon as a source of theology. They must not be bound to white, academic conceptualizations of the Christian Gospel. If the Gospel means freedom, then the freedom disclosed in that Gospel must also be revealed in the event of proclamation” (p.18). The Bible is mainly composed of stories that were told by white people, which makes theology from a black experience so valuable. During the time that the Bible was created, black people did not have the same rights as the whites, so none of their stories or ideas were saved the same way that stories written by whites were. Cone uses black theology as a way to praise Christianity from the eyes of black people. He mentions throughout God of the Oppressed and the interview with Bill Moyers that it is difficult for black people to praise Christianity in society today because their history does not match those of the white people. Black people and white people were not equal throughout most of history, so looking at history cannot be the same for both races even if they are equal in today’s society.

Thus, it is proven that James Cone uses symbols in order to portray his information regarding black theology. From Jesus to the lynching tree, Cone can mention how these symbols can help better understand the black community in the eyes of the church. The idea of symbols in black theology is just one facet of the ways contextual theology can bring light to the struggles of marginalized people. With this, contextual theology grants us a unique perspective and allows us to see the world through radically different ends.

Works Cited

1. “Speaking the Truth.” God of the Oppressed, by James H. Cone, Orbis Books, 2018, pp. 10–31.