Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue: A Personal Manifesto
- Chapter 1 Defending Black Theology from Homogeneity
- Chapter 2 A Black Theological Approach to Reconciliation
- Chapter 3 Rethinking Black Biblical Hermeneutics in Black Theology in Britain
- Chapter 4 Jesus as a Black Hero
- Chapter 5 A Black Theological Christmas Story
- Chapter 6 Black Churches as Counter-cultural Agencies
- Chapter 7 A Black Theological Approach to Violence against Black People: Countering the Fear and Reality of Being “Othered”
- Chapter 8 A Biblical and Theological Case for Reparations
- Chapter 9 What is the Point of This? A Practical Black Theology Exploration of Suffering and Theodicy
- 10 Peace and Justice through Black Christian Education
- Chapter 11 HIV/AIDS and Black Communities in Britain: Reflections from a Practical Black British Liberation Theologian
- Chapter 12 Making the Difference
- Notes
- Index
Chapter 9 - What is the Point of This? A Practical Black Theology Exploration of Suffering and Theodicy
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue: A Personal Manifesto
- Chapter 1 Defending Black Theology from Homogeneity
- Chapter 2 A Black Theological Approach to Reconciliation
- Chapter 3 Rethinking Black Biblical Hermeneutics in Black Theology in Britain
- Chapter 4 Jesus as a Black Hero
- Chapter 5 A Black Theological Christmas Story
- Chapter 6 Black Churches as Counter-cultural Agencies
- Chapter 7 A Black Theological Approach to Violence against Black People: Countering the Fear and Reality of Being “Othered”
- Chapter 8 A Biblical and Theological Case for Reparations
- Chapter 9 What is the Point of This? A Practical Black Theology Exploration of Suffering and Theodicy
- 10 Peace and Justice through Black Christian Education
- Chapter 11 HIV/AIDS and Black Communities in Britain: Reflections from a Practical Black British Liberation Theologian
- Chapter 12 Making the Difference
- Notes
- Index
Summary
In the previous chapter I outlined a tentative proposal for reparations based upon a postcolonial-inspired Black theological reading of the Bible and Christian tradition. As I stated in that chapter, I am not a political economist, so the fiscal and procedural mechanisms for affecting this form of restorative justice is not within the orbit of my competence.
In this chapter, I want to move from more theoretical considerations to those that arise from the need for the praxis of Black people, particularly in terms of how we engage theologically with the legacy of slavery, which shapes the macro and micro dimensions of life in the African Diaspora.
The impetus to write this chapter arose from my engagements, in 2007, across the length and breadth of Britain, as we marked the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. What struck me, repeatedly, as I preached, led workshops, taught seminar classes, wrote new material and edited other work, was the marked reluctance of many Black people to engage with the subject from a theological perspective.
As I have outlined in the prologue to this work and in the first chapter that follows, there continues to exist within many Black Christians in Britain an unhelpful dichotomy between the rhetoric of their Christian faith and the material realities of their Blackness. Far too many Black Christians in Britain, to my mind, seem unable to integrate these two arenas of human experience.
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- Working Against the GrainRe-Imaging Black Theology in the Twenty-first Century, pp. 172 - 187Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2008