Can the Black Church Have a Theology of Liberation without the Germans?

SINCE ARRIVING ON THIS CONTINENT, LIBERATION HAS BEEN THE STEADY DRUMBEAT BY WHICH WE’VE MARCHED, AND THE PERCUSSIVE UNDERTONE OF OUR THEOLOGY.

Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino and Juan Luis Segundo are considered to be key figures in the development of Liberation Theology. They responded to the social and political crisis in Latin America by developing a theological framework that emphasized justice and equity as sacred values.

Dr. James H. Cone is considered to be the father of Black Liberation Theology. He responded to the disenfranchisement and mistreatment of Black people in America by developing a theology that is uniquely filtered through the African American experience. The emphasis of Black Liberation Theology is God's solidarity with the oppressed and the need for social justice.

Both of these theological innovations developed in the 1960s, and they continue to be formative and influential frameworks today. The indelible impact Gutiérrez and Cone have had upon theological discourse and understanding cannot be overstated. We should be thankful for many of their insights.

However, since their works come along in the middle of the 20th century, the probing mind wonders if it’s fair to consider their contributions to be the beginning of liberative theology. Certainly, they were the first to penetrate academia.

But what theological framework inspired Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, and Henry McNeal Turner? What can we glean from the theology of our enslaved ancestors? It’s no doubt that Dr. Cone was deeply aware of, and shaped by the witness of our ancestors. But, can we learn anything about liberation theology prior to the 20th century?

Catch the entire conversation here.