Black Theology for Whites

Abstract

“Black Theology for Whites” explores German theologian Jürgen Moltmann’s personal encounter with U.S. Black Theology, addressing how white people can learn from the Black intellectuals Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Moltmann tells of his time at Duke Divinity School in the late 1960s, his experiences of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and his friendship with James H. Cone. He also documents the history of Black oppression in the Western world, beginning in the late sixteenth century, and the history of the Back to Africa movement of Marcus Garvey. He then describes key theological themes in James Cone’s Black Theology, and what Black theology teaches white people. The article was first published as a chapter in his 2001 book, Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), and is re-issued here in its entirety with permission from Fortress Press and Professor Moltmann.