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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Background reading on lynching<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a good introduction or refresher, I’d recommend\u00a0this excellent overview from the NAACP.<\/a>\u00a0I’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\u00a0this page-long specific account of the lynching of Hayes and Mary Turner.<\/a>\u00a0that the NAACP article refers to and links to. Second, to get a sense of how public and normalized lynchings were\u2014with newspaper announcements of scheduled lynchings and white families bringing small children to watch and maybe take home a “souvenir”\u2014please read\u00a0this Guardian article meant to provide historical context to a UK readership.<\/a>\u00a0on the occasion of the opening of the Legacy Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Tuesday, please read (1.) the background information on lynching and (2.) pp. 152\u2013157 of Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree <\/em>and complete a response with the following sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n a. Words: Write down three words you learned (or learned more about) from the reading. With reference to the reading, explain in your own words what you think Cone means by one or the other of these claims:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 “The gospel is in the world but it is not of the world” (p. 156) For Thursday, please read pp. 157\u201366 of Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree <\/em>and complete a response with the following sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n a. Words: Write down three words you learned (or learned more about) from the reading. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReading Response A<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2013200 words, minimum 100 words required) to this prompt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 “One disciple betrayed him and another denied him, because a suffering Messiah was not the one they expected.” (pp. 156\u201357)<\/p>\n\n\n\nReading Response B<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2013200 words, minimum 100 words required) to this prompt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n[In-class material]<\/h2>\n\n\n\n