Books by James Cone

God of the Oppressed  / A Black Theology of Liberation  / For My People, Black Theology and the Black Church

Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (1992)  / Black Theology and Black Power

Risks of Faith: The Emergence of a Black Theology of  Liberation, 1968-1998   /  The Spiritual and the Blues: An Interpretation

Black Theology: A Documentary History: Volume Two: 1980-1992  /  My Soul Looks Back

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Book Reviews

"Any message that is not related to the liberation of the poor in a society is not Christ's message. Any theology that is indifferent to the theme of liberation is not Christian theology." 

--James H. Cone

When first published in 1970 A Black Theology of Liberation revolutionized theology with its searing indictment of white theology and society. James Cone radically reappraised Christianity from the pained and angry perspective of the oppressed black community in North America. Twenty years later Cone's work retains its original power, enhanced now by the reflections on the evolution of his own religious quest for liberation.

"James Cone is a committed man 'saturated' in the real world, which he analyzes with the authority of one who has experienced it. A Black theology of liberation is for this reason a passionate book, passionately written. In reading it some will be chilled by their anger, others will tremble with fear. many readers, though, will find a stimulus here for their own struggles. This is what James cone envisages."

--Paulo Freire,  Foreword

"Professor Cone is the first theologian to give formal and systematic expression to the meaning of black religion and to place it in the context of the black revolution. But Dr. Cone's larger contribution transcends the black revolution and offers to America, and to the church, a key to understanding something more about the faith than we have ever undertaken to learn."   

--C. Eric Lincoln

"Much has happened in black theology since the publication of  A Black Theology of Liberation. Womanist theology has been the most creative and challenging development. the theological voice of Delores Williams is supported by Katie Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant, Kelly Brown, Cheryl Gilkes, Toinette Eugene, and Cheryl Sanders. 

Challenging theological voices also are being heard from a new generation of young male voices. They include: Dwight Hopkins, Josiah Young, James Evans, Robert Franklin, Alonzo Johnson, George Cummings, and Theodore Walker. In the area of biblical studies, Cain Felder has led the way with his important book, Troubling Biblical Waters. Other important voices include Randall Bailey, Renita Weems, Clarice Martin, Thomas Hoyt, and Vincent Wimbush."    

--James Cone

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Bill Moyers and James Cone (Interview)

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updated 9 October 2007