James Cone was one of the founders of Black Liberation Theology, and a Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary. He started writing and speaking on the topic in the 1960s, but we’re reading from one of his last books, published in 2011 when he was in his 70s.

Background reading on lynching

 want to provide some background information on lynching, since some of you didn’t grow up here and may not have learned too much about the history of American white supremacist terrorism, and also because, as Cone quotes Brundage saying at the beginning of our reading, “Perhaps nothing about the history of mob violence in the United States is more surprising than how quickly an understanding of the full horror of lynching has receded from the nations collective historical memory.”

For a good introduction or refresher, I’d recommend this excellent overview from the NAACP. I’d also like to call your attention to two specific things not covered specifically in that overview. First, so that we don’t gloss over this terrorist campaign as “extrajudicial hangings,” please read this page-long specific account of the lynching of Hayes and Mary Turner. that the NAACP article refers to and links to. Second, to get a sense of how public and normalized lynchings were—with newspaper announcements of scheduled lynchings and white families bringing small children to watch and maybe take home a “souvenir”—please read this Guardian article meant to provide historical context to a UK readership. on the occasion of the opening of the Legacy Museum.

Reading Response A

For Tuesday, please read (1.) the background information on lynching and (2.) pp. 152–157 of Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree and complete a response with the following sections:

a. Words: Write down three words you learned (or learned more about) from the reading.
b. Ideas: Write down three ideas or concepts you learned about (or learned more about) from the reading
c. Prompt: Write a short response (100–200 words, minimum 100 words required) to this prompt:

With reference to the reading, explain in your own words what you think Cone means by one or the other of these claims:

• “The gospel is in the world but it is not of the world” (p. 156)
• “One disciple betrayed him and another denied him, because a suffering Messiah was not the one they expected.” (pp. 156–57)

Reading Response B

For Thursday, please read pp. 157–66 of Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree and complete a response with the following sections:

a. Words: Write down three words you learned (or learned more about) from the reading.
b. Ideas: Write down three ideas or concepts you learned about (or learned more about) from the reading
c. Prompt: Write a short response (100–200 words, minimum 100 words required) to this prompt:

This part of the chapter contains many striking, dramatic, and thought-provoking claims. Pick any of them that stands out to you and explain what you think it means and how you think it makes sense.

[In-class material]

[In class, we began discussion of the second section of Chapter 6 by watching 6:04–8:00 of this video.]

Activity

Cone asks (p. 161 and following) how the cross can redeem the lynching tree, and how the lynching tree can liberate the cross. In 400–500 words, summarize Cone’s answer to both, and explain why you think this is either a sufficient or an insufficient response to the Problem of Evil in the face of racial terrorism. Be sure that you’ve explained relevant parts of the text and that you’ve responded to or incorporated relevant parts of our class discussion.