Back

I am going to try and blog again. All previous attempts have been more or less failures, thus we should all probably expect the same again. Nonetheless, I am going to give it one more shot.

I just finished reading James Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power. This text was a seminal work in establishing the academic discourse known as Black Theology. I am currently on a quest to complete an exhaustive reading of the Conian corpus, hopefully completing a large chunk of this project during this spring quarter.

Let me offer a brief reflection in response to this text. The central contention of this book is that Black Power is God’s central message to 20th century America. This contention is unfolded through out the book. The crux of the argument is that Black Power is that movement which is speaking both to and for poor black people. In other words, Black Power is clearly on the side of the oppressed.

An important caveat on Cone’s understanding of blackness will be helpful for those not familiar with Cone. Blackness moves beyond skin pigmentation in Cone’s thought. Blackness functions as a symbol for the oppressed peoples and classes in America. This is intelligible because of the deep history of black suffering and oppression within American history. The Black community has historically been the oppressed and the suffering group, and thus blackness is an appropriate contextualized way of speaking about the American poor and oppressed.

An important aspect of Cone’s central contention, which struck me, was his willingness to identify God, in a very specific way, with a social/political movement such as Black Power. The theological basis for this implication of God in political struggle is rooted in the theological affirmation of the transcendence of God. In the past, I have taken this theological foundation to mean that God stays above the fray of the dominant political discourse, and instead embodies himself within the church community creating an alternative body politic. This becomes problematic because it creates a massive void within a world characterized by deep injustice and slavery. From the perspective of those outside of the Christian community an ominous silence is all that can be heard. And silence is the close friend of injustice. Thus a politic which stands over and against the dominant political discourse must in fact manifest itself within the dominant discourse as a voice of resistance. NO, NO, NO should be constantly heard from an appropriately Christian political stance. These loud and adamant “no’s” can only ever be heard from within the context of the dominant discourse.

Thus, in order for the transcendent God to truly stand over and against the dominant political structures in America, which purvey violence, injustice, and slavery, that God must enter into the depths of the struggle against the dominant political structures, represented in movements such as the Black Power movement. Retreat to the church is not an option. God is in the world and that is precisely the place to which we are called. God is before us in the world, not behind us in the church. Let us press on!

Questions and a Project

Questions regarding the theological task as a whole have been piquing my interest as of recent. I was wrestling with these questions on my drive to Downey from Pasadena this evening. Let me open up the barrage of questions that assaulted my mind. What is the theological task? What form does it take? Is theology art? If this is the case, what is art? Does theology have any room for the transcendent? Is theology concerned with an object or a subject? Is theology science? Is theology history? How does theology interact with other areas of public discourse? What does a public theology look like? There were more, they came like a whirlwind, leaving only mental rubble in their wake. I was left a little bit disturbed after this thought event, yet also a glitter of optimism remained. I am going to attempt to use this blog as an avenue for beginning to sort out my thoughts on theology. I am pretty convinced that I need to begin the process of articulating some of my theological ruminations. I thought seminary would give me a space for this, but looking back on this first quarter alas it did not. Maybe in the future it will, but for now I hope this blog will create a space for me to begin developing my theology.

Here is a thought for the road: Is theology as conceived by most simply exercises in Eurocentric, esoteric, uninteresting, pretentious blather that has nothing to say to the world? Can theologians (or philosophers for that matter) really claim to be the architects of the conceptual worlds?

The Light is On

So, an interesting occurrence has transpired at the Camp/Trainor residence. Our porch light refuses to turn off. Truly an enigma! The light is always on... even when no one is home...

Show Recap

Yesterday, I went to see the Flobots and Matisyahu. Flobots were amazing! They sounded great live and put on a solid show. Not much flash, just a solid performance. Matisyahu was an interesting experience. He played for almost two hours, which was actually a little much. It turned out to be, more or less, one big continuous jam session. After the show ended, I was happy with all that had transpired and decided two things (1) that I have had my fix of Matisyahu and can move on and (2) I can't wait for the next Flobots album.

Two Things

(1) Matisyahu and Flobots in a matter of a few hours! I will have a post about the show tomorrow

(2) Theological Thought of the Day (Maybe I am going to try to start doing this more)

Theology is not an intellectual project in the sense that intellectual projects are undertaken by individuals. If an intellectual endeavor ever becomes the end of theology, we certainly have idolatry of the conceptual nature. Instead theology must be reconcieved as a communal event in which God inhabits our language in love which brings others together. Thus, theological enterprise must be dialogical in nature due to its necessary communal aspect. This approach is productive because it always holds any theological conclusion in the air, because there are no such thing as a theological conclusions. If theological ends or conclusions are ever reached then we have only ended with an idol. Let us seek to engage in the event of theological discourse in love amongst friends.

Big Week!

Events for Monday through Friday:

Monday- Paper Due/Bowling? (if time permits)
Tuesday- Work on Paper for Wednesday / Purchase Dustin Kensrue's latest album
Wednesday- Paper Due
Thursday- Sub / Work on Paper due next Wednesday / Go to the Flobots/Matisyahu Concert*
Friday- Sub / Work on Paper / Hang out with my future wife*

As you can see this is going to be a busy week for me. Hands down the highlight is going to be experiencing the Flobots/Matisyahu Concert!! I am extremely excited for this event. I have not been to a concert of this proportion in a number of years. Over the past few years the only shows I have been to have been either Shane and Shane or Derek Webb. Expect a blog recapping the event on Thursday night or Friday morning.

*Subbing will have to be cut one of these days

Articulating the Soul

This book has been articulating the thoughts of my mind and feelings of my soul. I would highly recommend that you buy it and read it as soon as possible. I would love to dialogue with some of my friends about the theology of this book. It is a short and fairly easy read. Let me know who is in to read it.