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Review
This book,
a collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century documents by
African-Americans, traces the progression of black Christian
theology's dominant response to the dilemma of evil in a
God-protected world: the notion of suffering as redemptive.
As the first extensive historical treatment of the problem of
evil in African- American religious thinking, this anthology
consists in great part of primary documents authored by a range
of black theologians, speaking for themselves on theodicy.
Supplemented by the editor's analyses of redemptive-suffering
arguments and their consequences for black Christian thought and
practice, the selections trace the historical development of a
primary strand of African-American theology. The authors
challenge traditional understandings of radical black religious
thought and point out contradictions inherent in the words of
black religious leaders. Documents show that black religions
historically regarded as progressive have at their theological
core an understanding of human suffering as redemptive.
The most significant
writings by African-American thinkers in this area have been
compiled along cross-denominational and doctrinal lines. They
include documents from Methodists and Baptists, Muslims and
Catholics-not only from church leaders but also from lay people
and political leaders. The volume brings clarity to the
historical and epistemological underpinnings of one of the most
pressing issues faced by African-American Christians.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part 1. Historical and Religious Context:
1787-1900 21
1. Jupiter Hammon: An Address to the Negroes in the State of
New York 27
2. Absalom Jones: Thanksgiving Sermon, Preached January 1,
1808, in St. Thomas's, or the African Episcopal Church,
Philadelphia, on Account of the Abolition of the African Slave
Trade, on That Day, by the Congress of the United
States 37
3. Nathaniel Paul: An Address, Delivered on the Celebration
of the Abolition of Slavery, in the State of New York, July 5,
1827 45
4. David Walker: Our Wretchedness in Consequence of
Ignorance 53
5. Maria W. Stewart: An Address delivered at the African
Masonic Hall 67
6. James William Charles Pennington: From A Text Book of
the Origin and History & c, & c, of the Colored People
75
7. Edward Wilmot Blyden: The Call of Providence to the
Descendants of Africa in America 80
8. Samuel Ringgold Ward: From Autobiography of a Fugitive
Negro 97
9. Henry McNeal Turner: On the Anniversary of the
Emancipation, 1866 102
10. Alexander Crummell: The Destined Superiority of the
Negro, a Thanksgiving Discourse, 1877
111
11. James Walker Hood: The Claims of the Gospel
Message 123
12. James Theodore Holly: The Divine Plan of Human Redemption
in Its Ethnological Development 131
13. Anna Julia Cooper: The Status of Woman in
America 141
14. Fannie Barrier Williams: The Intellectual Progress of the
Colored Women of the United States since the Emancipation
Proclamation 151
15 Booker Taliaferro Washington: From The Future of the
American Negro 164
Part 2: Historical and Religious Context: 1901 to the
Present 169
16. Garfield Thomas Haywood: From The Finest of the
Wheat 177
17. Levi Jenkins Coppin: Fifty Years of Religious Progress:
An Emancipation Sermon, Delivered on the Occasion of the
Emancipation Semi-Centennial, Philadelphia, September 14th,
1913 183
18. Alexander Walters: The Chicago Christian Endeavor
Convention, 1915 197
19. Reverdy Cassius Ransom: The Future of the Negro in the
United States 207
20. An Alternative Weapon 215
21. Martin Luther King Jr.: Suffering and
Faith 223
22. Howard Thurman: Suffering 227
23. Elijah Muhammad: "Allah Is Judging Today," from
Message to the Black Man in America, and "Certainty
of the Punishment," from Our Saviour Has Arrived
246
24. Joseph R. Washington Jr. Black
Hope 252
25. Albert B. Cleage Jr. Coming in out of the
Wilderness 273
26. James Hal Cone: Suffering in the Black Religious
Tradition 285
27. John R. Bryant: Our Father, The
King 298
28. J. Deotis Roberts: Faith in God Confronts Collective
Evils 302
29. M. Shawn Copeland: "Wading through Many
Sorrows": Toward a Theology of Suffering in Womanist
Perspective 315
30. Louis Farrakhan: From Let Us Make Man: Select Men Only
and Women Only Speeches 339
Bibliography 359
Index 363
Moral
Evil and Redemption Suffering. Publisher: University Press of Florida,15 NW 15th
Street, Gainesville, FL 32611
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