Against (White) Redemption: James Cone and the Christological Disruption of Racial Discourse and White Solidarity

In the early 1970s, James Cone delivered a profound Christological critique of whiteness as a project of redemption. This critique has often been missed because of the confusion regarding Cone's theological account of race. Drawing especially on the recent work of Nahum Chandler, this article d...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McGee, Timothy (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2017]
In: Political theology
Year: 2017, Volume: 18, Issue: 7, Pages: 542-559
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Cone, James H. 1938-2018 / Incarnation of Jesus Christ / Racial question / Black theology
IxTheo Classification:FD Contextual theology
KBQ North America
NBE Anthropology
NBF Christology
Further subjects:B James Cone
B Race
B Death
B Redemption
B Nahum Chandler
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In the early 1970s, James Cone delivered a profound Christological critique of whiteness as a project of redemption. This critique has often been missed because of the confusion regarding Cone's theological account of race. Drawing especially on the recent work of Nahum Chandler, this article develops the way African diasporic identity becomes “a problem for theological thought.” By way of conversation with Chandler, the article shows how Cone's deliberately ambiguous use of racial language effectively disrupts standard discourses on race and theology, which come to be seen as projects to regulate and control human life. White efforts at solidarity - asking how to help, seeking to a good ally or destroying their own whiteness - often become subtle quests to regain control over white identity and thereby contain or incorporate this disruption, this freedom as “revolt” (Cone). Against these projects of white redemption, James Cone offers a deeply Christological critique, pointing to the way they refuse to linger within movements they cannot control, particularly the movement “between,” the appositional or side-by-side joining of the particular God, Jesus of Nazareth, and particular contemporary struggles for black survival and freedom.
Item Description:Das Heft ist als Doppelheft erschienen: "Volume 18 Numbers 7-8 November-December 2017"
ISSN:1462-317X
Contains:Enthalten in: Political theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2016.1267431