kayla_kamldecker's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
mkanyion's review against another edition
5.0
Required Reading
This book should be required reading in every seminary, Christian school, and church. Every Christian who studies the cross should study this. Read and share it with someone else. Then re-read it.
This book should be required reading in every seminary, Christian school, and church. Every Christian who studies the cross should study this. Read and share it with someone else. Then re-read it.
pagesofpins's review against another edition
4.0
"It probably has something to do with the nature of life itself. It forces you, in any extremity, any extreme, to discover what you really live by, whereas most Americans have been for so long, so safe and so sleepy, that they don’t any longer have any real sense of what they live by. I think they really think it may be Coca-Cola." -James Baldwin
"Why don't you pray to live, and ask to be freed? The God you serve is the God of Paul and Silas, who opened the prison gates, and if you have the all the faith you say you have, you ought to believe he'll open your prison doors too." - Ida B. Wells
"Why don't you pray to live, and ask to be freed? The God you serve is the God of Paul and Silas, who opened the prison gates, and if you have the all the faith you say you have, you ought to believe he'll open your prison doors too." - Ida B. Wells
scrow1022's review against another edition
5.0
Important. Necessary. Some of these arguments could also be extended to being trans/GNC (esp. the last chapter, who God is for). Important history as well as theology and culture.
letterboxd's review against another edition
3.5
- The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in African-American history
- Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst of humanity but also hope against these from being the final judgment
- Jesus on the cross allowed many black Americans to feel God was with them
- The lynching tree represents white power and black death whereas the cross is divine power and black life
- People create meaning despite facing injustice and death
davehershey's review against another edition
4.0
After reading God of the Oppressed I wanted to read more from Cone, so I got this book. In this book Cone explores the connections between the cross, where Jesus suffered and died, and the lynching tree where thousands of black men and women suffered and died. After a chapter on lynching in America, Cone spends a chapter critiquing Reinhold Niebuhr. Cone pulls no punches, asking how it was possible for Niebuhr to write so truthfully on Christian ethics but to fail so spectacularly to say anything about lynching in the US during his life. This contrasts with Martin Luther King who was influenced by Niebuhr and others but who put his theology into action by working for justice. Cone follows this with chapters on black artists who connected the cross and the lynching tree as well as a chapter on women.
Overall this book is challenging and disheartening. It is a must-read for anyone (i.e., any white people) who look back and want to make America great again. How could our ancestors who were so vocal about their Christian faith commit such atrocities?
Cone recognizes many black people have wanted to reject the Christian faith because of this. But he cannot get away from Jesus who, like so many blacks, suffered and died on a tree. He ends the book on a hopeful note, seeing hope for a better future for both white and black people centered on Jesus.
Overall this book is challenging and disheartening. It is a must-read for anyone (i.e., any white people) who look back and want to make America great again. How could our ancestors who were so vocal about their Christian faith commit such atrocities?
Cone recognizes many black people have wanted to reject the Christian faith because of this. But he cannot get away from Jesus who, like so many blacks, suffered and died on a tree. He ends the book on a hopeful note, seeing hope for a better future for both white and black people centered on Jesus.