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 4 - Jesus as a Black Hero
- 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
Why is Jesus Important?
Within any normative understanding of Christianity, the figure of Jesus Christ is seen as central. Jesus, who is believed to be God Incarnated – God who takes the form of human flesh and becomes one of us – remains the basis on which Christianity conceives of itself as offering a unique vision of the world as it is and as it will be. The “prologue” to John's Gospel offers the overarching and supposedly all-encompassing biblical description of who Jesus was and is for Christian believers. Alongside the notion of Jesus being as he was and is, within normative Christianity, is the sense that Jesus continues to live across all time and space; that individual Christian believers and communities, for that matter, can have their own experience of and engagement with the figure called Jesus. Each of us can re-imagine Jesus in the context of our individual lives and the experience of being a human being within history.
My own personal existential quest for imagining Jesus arose in my early teens. It is a story that was once impossible for me to tell, but through repeated telling, often re-enacted for the majority White students (often training for ministry) I teach, I have learnt to control the visceral and emotive power of this narrative.
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- Working Against the GrainRe-Imaging Black Theology in the Twenty-first Century, pp. 75 - 92Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2008