Page 2 Portland Obeerver Section II February 21, 19>
The theology of l,iberation
by R,v,r,nd Austm V. Ray
Mini.st,r, Hu1h,s M,morial
Untt«I M,thodi.st Church
People of the community and my
con1re1ation have asked me many
times why I preach so many sermons
on Black liberation, and why I tend
to interprete the scriptures through
the Black experience in America. I
have tried here to raise some impor-
tant questions that will make people
think about their selfhood. Why is
Black liberation theolo1y needed'!
First, a part of the Black
man/woman's identity problem lies
in the fact that he/she has not been
too sure who she/he was at any
1iven moment in the context of
American culture. This is because
the reliaious institutions in America
have played important roles in the
dehumanizin1 process and strippin1
the Black race of their sense of per-
sonhood. Black liberation demands
that Blacks and other oppressed
people of the world affirm their
identity. Black theoto1y proclaims
the emanicipation of every
man/woman in the name of Christ.
It promotes awareness for Black
churchmen that the Black idiom is a
life 1ivin1, liberatin1, redeemin1
and reconcilina force with power to
salva1e christian worship from
coldness, sterility and impotence;
the aift of soul. Black theoloay is af-
firmation of one's self-awareness
that his/her Blackness is no lonaer a
burden to him/her but a 1ift of
God.
The ideolo1Y of racism that oriai-
nat ed in the white churches in
America, and the development of a
cast system that would In-
stitutionalize racism and leave
Blacks helpless, and was used as a
rationale to justify slavery on the
basis that whiteness was superior
and perpetuated by the white
theoloaians throu1h their interpre-
tation of scripture that somehow
said that it was God's will that
Blacks were the chosen race to be
slaves.
The Black slaves in America in-
ternalized these beliefs to be facts,
and thus the Black church ano
cleray perpetuated a 1ospel that was
seen throu1h the eyes of a white
racist society to condemn them to an
inferior state of existence. White
theoloaians developed the concept
of the American Christ that became
the enemy of Blacks and other
minorities. The problem with the
American Christ is, that he says that
the Black man never has to be fully
recoanized. Therefore, whites
derived their riaht to rule over
Blacks from God. To question this
riaht was to question the will of God
and to incur divine wrath.
Catechisms for the instruction of
slaves in the chmtian reli11on often
contained such instruction u: Q.
Who gave you a mHte; and a
mletrau 1 A. God 1ave them to me.
Q. Who NY• that you muet obey
them 1 A. God says that I must.
Black theoloay is the theoto1y of
Black liberation. It seeks to plumb
the Black condition in the light of
God's revelation in Jesus Christ, so
that the Black community can see
the 1ospel is commensurate with the
achievement of Black humanity.
Black theology is a theololY of
Blackness. It is not racist as many
Black preachers believe. It is the af-
firmation of Black humanity that
emancipates Black people from
white racism thus providin1 authen-
tic freedom for both white and
Black people. It affirms the
humanity of white people in that it
says "NO" to the encroachment of
white oppression.
Alona with the development of a
white ideolo1y of racism, came also
the white only sians, that appeared
in the white churches Iona before
they appeared in the public utility
places. During the post-civil war
years the Black church lost its zeal
for freedom in the midst of the new
structures of white power.
Although the Black church was
oraanized as a protest movement,
durin1 this period the Black
ministers remained the spokeman
for Black people, but faced by in-
surmountable obstacles, he suc-
cumbed to the cajolery and bribery
of the white power structure and
this became its foil. The passion tor
freedom was replaced with In-
nocuous homilies qainst drinkin1,
dancin1, and smokina, and injustice
in the present were minimized in
favor of a kingdom beyond this
world.
Black churches adopted for the
most part then, and still today, the
theolo1Y of the white missionaries
that tau1ht Blacks to for1et the
present and look to the future. One
of the short comin1s of the Black
church is that its leaders convinced
themselves that they were doin1 the
ri1ht thina by advocatin1 obedience
to white oppression as a means of
enterin1 a death, the future age of
heavenly bliss.
The Black church identified white
words with God's word and con-
vinced its people that by listenin1 in
faithful obedience to the great white
father they would surely enter the
pearly 1ates. Thus, the Black
minister perpetuated the white
system of Black dehumanization,
and Black churches encoura1ed the
Black communities to satisfy them-
selves with white solutions to earthly
injustices.
White theoton has had Blacks
tryin1 in vain to pur1e themselves of
their Blackness. Why, because the
American Christ says that Black
represents the mean, the ualy, the
sinful, the no 100d. But, thouah
the eyes of the Black experience,
and Black liberation theolo1Y, sin
for Black people is the loss of their
identity. It is sayin1 yes to white ab-
surdly; acceptin1 the world as it is
by lettin1 white people define Black
existence by white criteri. For
Blacks to be in sin is to be contented
REVEREND AUSTIN V. RAY
with white solutions for the
"Black problem" and not rebellin1
qainst every infrin1ement of white
beina on Black being.
Black theolo1Y differs from
traditional theolo1Y by the simple
reason that it may not be as con-
cerned to describe such traditional
themes as the eternal nature ol
God's existence. Much of the task
of Black theolo1Y is to reclaim a
people from humiliation, and in the
process of so doin1, it may well
ne1lect such unrelated subjects as
humility before man and 1uilt
before God.
If Black theololY is to speak
realistically and coaently to a people
whose lives have been worn down,
whose best hopes have so often been
frustrated, and who have been
reminded at every turn by human
word and action that they are less
than worthy of so much that other
ordinary humans possess, it must
have a new and fresh messaae of
hope for the future. _
Black theoton has 1iven new
meanin1 to Blackness, and it seeks
to relate that Blackness to a truth
that Is liberatin1, thus, in current
times, it has become a new light of
freedom under. Havin1 tasted that
freedom throuah identification with
God's intention for Blark
humanity, the Black man/woman/
child, will stop at nothin1 in ex-
pressin1 an even stron1er affir-
mation of Black selfhood.
Black theolo1Y seeks to answer
such questions as; what the 1ospel
has to say to a man/woman who is
jobless and cannot act work to sup-
port his/her family because the
society is unjust. Or what is God's
word to a person who has just been
brutalized
by
some
racist
policemen? Or what is God's word
to the countless Black boys and airls
who are fatherless and motherless
because white society decreed that
Blacks have no ri1hts?
What does God's word say to the
countless numbers of Black
boys/1irls who has been forced to
live on the reservations of our urban
1hettos? Unless there is a world
from Christ to the helpless, and the
hopeless, then why should they
respond to him or to the church?
Black liberation theoton is a
theolo1y which has emeried out of
the
experiences
of
Black
women/men/ Black men/women
who were committed to christian
faith and who brouaht to the
christian faith the totality of their
experiences, accepted this christian
faith and when this christian faith
flowed throu1h the contours of their
souls a new Interpretation of this
faith emeried.