Theologizing in Black

In Theologizing in Black, Celucien Joseph interrelates various bodies of theological literature that are often kept separate. As Joseph explains, his book is a study of Black liberation theology in the United States in comparison to and engaged with African theology and Afro-Caribbean theology. He argues that each of these theological projects are subsumed under Africana Liberation Theology (16, 21).Joseph's study is delineated in five objectives. First, the book shows how African, African American, and Afro-Caribbean theologians interpret Black people's relationship to God (ix). Second, the book shows the distinction between religious experience and theological thinking in Black culture as well as the connection between them. Under the second objective, Joseph's thesis and corollary seem to be the following: “The Black experience in religion is critical as it has paved the way for thinking theologically or theologizing in black. The idea here is that religious thinking leads to theological musing, and the two are inseparable, but not the same phenomenon” (ix). Third, the book shows that, in this crisscross of religious experience and theological thinking, what Joseph calls “theologizing in black,” the divine-human relationship, as seen from the Black perspective, affirms the beauty, dignity, and worth of Black people (x). Fourth, the book provides a historical narrative of Africana Liberation Theology in the works of Black scholars such as Jean-Bertrand Aristide, James H. Cone, D. H. Kortright Davis, Noel Leo Erskine, Idris Hamid, E. Bolaji Idowu, Benjamin E. Mays, John S. Mbiti, Laurenti Megesa, and Jean Price-Mars. Lastly, the book makes clear that Africana theological ethics and anthropology are not derivative of Western theology, ethics, and anthropology but critique them (xi). In view of this dissimilarity, Joseph names his theology “Africana critical theology” (31).Joseph's accomplishment of these objectives must be assessed over against his personal narrative, which exposes the challenges of gaining the expert knowledge required for this kind of study (xi–xii). Joseph's story, not unlike that of several young Black scholars, reveals a major curricular problem—that is, the near absence of master's and doctoral programs in Africana religious studies and theology in American universities and the inadequacy of the programs that do exist. Joseph unwittingly makes predominately White institutions (for example, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Pittsburgh, Williams College, University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, and Brown University) the standard bearers of Africana studies (22). He does not acknowledge historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have established Africana studies departments or that promote Africana studies across their curricula. The irony is evident in chapter 1, where Joseph depends on a white scholar (John Hick) to legitimate a comparative study of African American, African, and Caribbean theologies. Only later in the chapter will Joseph turn to the work of a Black scholar (Jean Price-Mars). Joseph justifies this turn by pointing to the coherence between Price-Mars's study of African religions and John Hick's theory of pluralism. Joseph also turns to other white scholars—for example, in chapter 1, Geoffrey Parrinder and, in chapter 2, Max Scheler, Stanley J. Grenz, and David Tracy—to validate the perspectives of Black scholars and legitimate his argument that Africana theological anthropology and theological ethics are grounded in Ubuntu philosophy and moral virtues.By Joseph's intentional arrangement, the book chapters identify Black dignity, justice, and democracy as the core of Africana Liberation Theology. In chapter 1, relying on Jean Price-Mars's theory that animistic monotheism is the universal religion of Africa and that this form of animism predates Christianity and Islam, Joseph argues that African traditional religion must be recognized as the connecting link between the various religious and cultural practices in Africa and the African diaspora (60, 66–67, 70–72). In chapter 2, Joseph argues that this African-based worldview is represented in the concept of Ubuntu, a theological ethics that defines the person within the context of community and promotes democratic practices (74, 78). Chapter 3 provides an overview of James Cone's Black liberation theology as an illustration of Ubuntu (102). In chapter 4, Joseph moves from description to critical appropriation of Cone's theology for the construction of public theology in the United States and overall improvement of systematic Christian theology and the specific tasks it must undertake (148, 170, 177). In chapter 5, Joseph examines the contributions of Caribbean theologians Jean-Bertrand Aristide (Haiti), D. H. Kortright Davis (Antigua and Barbuda), Noel Leo Erskine (Jamaica), and Idris Hamid (Trinidad) to Africana Liberation Theology. Though Caribbean theology is not monolithic, Joseph contends that these theologians have a shared focus on the themes of emancipation and decolonization (199). He goes on to claim that in Black theology in the United States and the Caribbean, Christianity is freed from distortion and the erroneous belief of its being the white man's religion (239). In chapter 6, Joseph examines Benjamin Mays's Black theology, which came to focus on democracy—namely, the democratization of American society and the Christianization of American culture (241–42, 264–65, 270–74).In chapter 6, Joseph builds on his claims in previous chapters that liberation and emancipation are connected to democracy. The reader must ask if this is truly the case. Is democracy the best form of government? What are the risks and fragility of democracy that threaten the lives of Black people? In the United States, Blacks have increased their legislative representation but are plagued by having less legislative influence relative to other groups. Blacks may be facing the dreaded predicament of a “persistent minority” that can never win or carry the day in those matters that concern and interest them the most. They are not alone in facing this predicament. There is uneven political participation and engagement of minority groups generally in American society. According to Joseph, “[Mays] envisioned that the United States could be both ‘a truly democratic’ nation-state and a ‘truly Christian’ society.” In this “truly Christian society,” what is the status of persons who are not Christian? These and other critical questions must be considered by Celucien Joseph and like-minded Black theologians

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