Saturday, March 22, 2008

Wright's Mentor   [Stanley Kurtz]

Jeremiah Wright’s theological mentor, James Cone, Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, is perhaps the most important figure in black liberation theology. Here Cone delivers the 2006 Ingersoll lecture at Harvard Divinity School. Dating from 1893, the Ingersoll Lecture is one of the oldest endowed lectures at Harvard. Cone’s Ingersoll lecture is entitled, "Strange Fruit: The Cross and the Lynching Tree."

Cone is clearly an intelligent and charismatic speaker. There are a number of "zingers" in here which I think many listeners will object to. But this lecture is also significantly more toned down than what we find in the infamous Jeremiah Wright videos. This is the smooth and sophisticated version of black liberation theology, and my sense is that even Cone himself can be significantly more radical than what we see here. Nonetheless, the talk is pretty striking.

The lecture and question period take an hour and-a-half. Here I’ll provide a guide to some of the more theologically and politically interesting moments, but many will want to listen to the entire lecture, and to the question period that follows. I’ll reference key sections of the lecture by noting the beginning and ending minutes on the time clock.

16 minutes–23:30: Here Cone begins to distinguish his own theological approach from orthodox and evangelical Christianity (his terms). The basic theme of the lecture–the symbolic identity of the cross and the lynching tree–is laid out.

36:30–38 minutes: Here Cone criticizes the relationship with God claimed by many white evangelical ministers, President Bush, and also those black preachers who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.

40-43 minutes: Here Cone accepts many of the criticisms leveled at traditional Christianity by feminist and womanist theologians. (As opposed to "feminist" theology, "womanist" theology specifically focuses on the concerns of African-American women.)

52:30-57 minutes: Here Cone says that the cross understood as a lynching tree can redeem not only American blacks, but also white lynchers and their descendants. But Cone emphasizes that this is only true if whites pay the heavy cost of repentance and reparations. Paying reparations is the precondition of divine mercy and forgiveness for white sins.

1:02–1:08: In a key section, Cone explains that, although the days of literal lynching are over, lynching continues to be the central truth of both race relations and foreign policy in America. Cone argues that the large number of black men in the criminal justice system are effectively victims of white lynching. Cone goes on to claim that, through private prisons, white Americans have discovered a way to turn a brutal and racist legal system into a profit-making venture for dying towns and cities all over America. He then explains that the victims of Katrina and all blacks denied jobs, health care, and housing are also being lynched, even if without a rope or a tree.

Finally, Cone explains that the victims of Abu Ghraib and the prisoners of Guantanamo are also modern lynching victims, and he compares the Roman empire and its crucifiction of Jesus with the American empire in Afghanistan and Iraq. Blacks, Cone explains, are Christ-figures, not because they want to be, but because white persecution has forced them to be. And this Christ-like racial victimization means that the power of lynching as the central metaphor for race in America endures.

I’m not marking out anything specific from the question period, but there are some "zingers" there, and it makes for interesting listening. Note also that, while I’ve tried to be accurate in this summary, I’m working from a recorded lecture rather than a text. Obviously, you’ll need to listen yourself to confirm any point, and to get specific language.

Readers can make up their own minds about Cone’s symbolic and theological links between the cross and the lynching tree. What strikes me as politically relevant is Cone’s conviction that lynching is not just a symbol for some particular modern injustice, but the central and controlling metaphor of race relations and foreign policy in America today. Like so much academic leftism, the strategy here is to elevate the most morally repugnant symbol of the past into the hidden or "subtle" truth of the present–especially the political present. This gives the accuser permanent moral superiority and the accused permanent guilt–unless the accused begs forgiveness and pays endless material and spiritual reparations. If you want theological context for Jeremiah Wright, here’s a start.

Looking for more? Here’s a YouTube video called "A Conversation with James Cone." It lasts about 20 minutes. There are explanations here of Cone’s broad view of the meaning of white supremacy and some further discussion of themes around the cross and the lynching tree. One notable moment (around 6:30 minutes into the video) is when Cone denies that Clarence Thomas is black. (The synchronization of sound and picture is a bit off in this video.)

03/22 09:53 AMShare