Marxism and/as Black Theology

From Cone to West and Back Again

Bibliographic Data

ID20209738
AuthorsDerek Brown (0000-0003-0928-0064, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume22
Issue1
Pages29-50
Publication date2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBlack Theology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1476-9948 • E-ISSN: 1743-1670
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14769948.2024.2318102
OpenAlexW4391913223
LanguageEN
References cited9

This paper argues three primary points. First, that James Cone analytically relied on and supported Marxist political economy, especially as concerns its use as an explanation of anti-Black racism. Second, that this Marxist dimension of Cone’s work should be supported, because Marxism remains the most effective political and analytical tool for improving the material conditions of the exploited. Third, that despite his analytical adherence to Marxism as an explanatory theory for understanding and overcoming racism, Cone did not analytically clarify the structural relationship between race and class. This conflation becomes problematic for Cone’s project when class differences and wealth inequality within the Black community – and every “community” – are exacerbated. This shortcoming can be redressed by Cone’s interlocutor Cornel West, who offers a Marxist understanding of the relationship between race and class that allows him to pursue an emancipatory politics that is committed to both anti-racism and anti-capitalism

Aesthetics · African american · Art · Black church · Black theology · Ethnology · Sociology · Theology · Mathematics · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies · Theological Perspectives and Practices