Prison, Where Is Thy Victory? A Black Panther Theology of Mass Incarceration
On 12 July 1969, Huey P. Newton, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, wrote “Prison, Where Is Thy Victory?,” a socialist critique of America’s penal system that focused on its inability to rehabilitate prisoners. Beyond its explicit rejection of American capitalism, his essay, with its very title,...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
Year: 2020, Volume: 113, Issue: 1, Pages: 24-44 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Newton, Huey P. 1942-1989
/ Bible. Hosea 13
/ Bible. Corinthians 1. 15
/ Prison
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics FD Contextual theology HC New Testament KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America |
| Further subjects: | B
Liberation Theology
B Black Panther Party B 1 Corinthians 15 B Hosea 13 B Huey Newton B Black Theology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | On 12 July 1969, Huey P. Newton, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, wrote “Prison, Where Is Thy Victory?,” a socialist critique of America’s penal system that focused on its inability to rehabilitate prisoners. Beyond its explicit rejection of American capitalism, his essay, with its very title, also invokes two passages from the Bible—Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:55) and the book of the prophet Hosea (Hos 13:14) —although Newton never elaborates on their allusive force. Intertextually bound to Newton’s title, these biblical passages function as a type of guiding lens through which “full-knowing readers” can engage Newton’s treatment of mass incarceration. This essay provides such an intertextual reading of “Prison” vis-à-vis 1 Cor 15 and Hos 13, with particular attention to the ways Newton’s biblical models simultaneously enrich and complicate interpretations of “Prison.” |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816019000336 |