A Black Theology of Liberation

Abstract

This essay looks at the notion of culture as one of the foundational presuppositions for developing a future constructive theological anthropology based on African-American folk tales. Too often contemporary theologians, in general, and Black and Womanist theologians, in particular, assume an understanding of culture as given. But because theological anthropology emerges from a divine spirit of liberation revealing itself among the culture of the people from below, then what is the exact status of the notion of culture (that is, the human container for liberating divinity)? Indeed, it is one's construal of culture that actually affects (if not effects) the resulting theological anthropology. Drawing on theoretical resources from Africa and the Diaspora, the article asserts, at least, a three-part definition. Culture is constituted by human labor, the aesthetic, and the spirit. In this regard, culture is an integrated way of life which shuns false dichotomies between sacred and so-called secular. Human labor denotes a mutuality between base and superstructure. The aesthetic argues for a norm grounded in internal beauty and ethical functionality. And the spirit is the vivifying thread woven throughout all of culture.

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