Cone and Goizueta Blog

“Unless the cross and the lynching tree are seen together, there can be no genuine understanding of Christian identity in America and no healing of the racial divide in churches and seminaries as well as in the society as a whole. I know the cross and the lynching tree are not comfortable subjects to talk about together. Who wants to think about lynched black bodies in church workshop or when doing a theological reflection on Bonhoffer’s question, “who is Jesus Christ for us today? This is exactly what I contend the gospel requires Christian to do.”

James Cone makes this statement on page 48, which is apart of his greater argument relating to black lynching in America to Jesus’s crucifixion. He argues that you cannot look at the crucifixion in todays world, without thinking about the more recent evils committed in our country. While it is difficult to look at the heinous acts that divided our nation even more than it already was, we cannot sweep it under the rug. Cone argues that the only way for us to heal the racial divide and move forward in unison is to talk about this part of our nations history and make it a part of our theological endeavors.

While difficult, speaking about these ideas would heal race relations, as well as modernize some religious teachings. We will always have Jesus’s crucifixion story and how he died for our sins, but modernizing it to include the many African Americans that died in America at the hands of “Christians” who were going against everything they were supposed to stand for as well as how they overcame it would be inspirational to everyone. The wider social and theological publication of the lynching tree will only benefit us as a nation.

On Page 51, Cone describes the word of God as “offensive”. What he means by this is that the word of God is sometimes too real for certain people to understand and incorporate into their lives. Cone describes God’s words as coming from a place of suffering, which is hard for many to understand. The cross provides hope if and only if white Americans are willing to repent, reflect and be willing to understand the true effects that lynchings had on African American communities.

This relates to Goizueta’s argument about the denial of suffering as well as the poor, as through us not acknowledging the relation between Jesus’s crucifixion and the lynching of Black Americans. Goizueta uses this argument to strengthen our faith. He wants us to look for the poor and underprivileged rather than through them. In this way, we will find salvation.