The Errors of James Cone and the BLT

Trinity Institute's Bob Scott talks with theologian James H. Cone about race, religion and violence in the video below. James Cone is best known for his advocacy of Black Liberation Theology (BLT), which is related to the Black Power movement. He is currently the Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Cone was heavily influenced by the teachings of Karl Barth (on whom Cone had written his doctoral thesis) and Paul Tillich and Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. His theology developed further in response to critiques by black women, leading Cone to consider gender issues more prominently and foster the development of womanist theology, and also in dialogue with Marxist analysis and the sociology of knowledge.

Just listen and you will easily discover the explicit racism, the twisting of Scripture, and the re-defining (and possibly even the rejection) of several orthodox doctrines of Christianity.



James Cone's Black Theology is a mixture of Malcom's "Blackness" and Martin's "Christianity."

At the 7:50 time on the video above Cone explains his view of the crucifixion of Christ. He believes that Jesus was a victim -- the victim of a lynching. He contends that the only way for Americans to truly understand what happened at the Cross is to understand what happened when Blacks were lynched in American history for on the Cross God took upon himself the suffering of the victim. In fact, Cone believes that every time a Black man is lynched God is present in that body "just like God was present in Jesus' cross."

At the 11:00 mark Cone's convoluted logic is never more evident. He claims that Christians cannot be people in "power." So Cone believes that White people are not truly Christian because they have the dominant power in America. Yet, Cone has dedicated his life to the pursuits of "Black Power." Therefore, I say, his life is dedicated to leading Blacks away from Christianity -- according to his own twisted theology.

At the 14:15 mark Cone reveals his doubts that the Bible is God's inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. He then makes statements that sound exactly like the views of the Emergent Movement. Namely, he claims that he would rather follow someone who is always doubting his understanding of the Scriptures.