Is God a White Racist?: A Preamble to Black Theology

by William R. Jones and William R. Jones

Book Overview

Published originally as part of C. Eric Lincoln's series on the black religious experience, Is God a White Racist? is a landmark critique of the black church's treatment of evil and the nature of suffering. In this powerful examination of the early liberation methodology of James Cone, J. Deotis Roberts, and Joseph Washington, among others, Jones questions whether their foundation for black Christian theism--the belief in an omnibenevolent God who has dominion over human history--can provide an adequate theological foundation to effectively dismantle the economic, social, and political framework of oppression. Seeing divine benevolence as part of oppression's mechanism of disguise, Jones argues that black liberation theologians must adopt a new theism that is informed by humanism and its principle of the functional ultimacy of wo/man, where human choice and action determine whether our condition is slavery or freedom.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807010332
• ISBN13: 9780807010334
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

A must read for any seeking guidance on theology as applied to the African American experience.

YES, God's a white Racist!

God, as being represented by any people that use the name of God to "manifest their destiny" by annihilating and enslaving millions of human beings like themselves as if they were animals, has made themselves into God. Therefore the answer to Williams' question is YES! God is a white racist. Anyone can become "God" I have found, when they need to push their agenda that is so obscene and evil that it needs a divine mandate to give their plan credibility. Jones wins the award for book title of all time. He is on my top ten reading list along with "Black Theology, Black Power" by his counterpart, James Cone. JUST READ IT!

Impenetrable Logic

Bill Jones' pointed critiques of traditional Black theologians' rationalization of black suffering is arguably the most enlightening theological work of its kind ever written. Unless we are willing to acknowledge that God is a racist, then there is absolutely no reasonable way to arrive at any other conclusion than the discomforting reality that God is not physically involved in the affairs of humankind. Whether God is powerless and unable to intervene or powerful and unwilling to intervene is entirely irrelevant. The result is what is practically important. There is perhaps only one area where the book can be found lacking, and that is in its inconsideration of the faith-based possibility of divine involvement in human affairs on a spiritual or emotional level. While Jones picks apart anti-logical (a subset of illogical) arguments like a surgeon, he does not provide an "out" for the hard of heart by acknowledging that there are some realms of illogic that are not necessarily anti-logical and cannot be easily dismissed using conventional logic. This is a minor criticism, however, since the focus of the book is God's physical activity (or lack thereof) in this world. Jones' book is perhaps the most fascinating contemporary theological critique and treatise of the modern era.

An interesting Critique of Black Theology

Is God a white racist critiques various Black Theologians as leaving this big question unanswered. Jones' basic critique of Black Theologians is that they assume that God is actively at work for the liberation of Black people and yet have no examples or proof of such a claim. In fact Jones' would argue that the assumptions of Black Theology that God is all powerful and actively invovled in humanity leaves God open up to the charge of divine racism which is a question that Jones believes the Black liberation Theologians must answer. Jones also beleives that the God of black theologians can also lead to passivity.In this work Jones looks at various major proponents of Black theology and seeks to show how each of their assumptions leave open the possibility of divine racism. Jones does have a proposal to get around the possibility of divine racism by seeking to replace the all-powerful God who is actively invovled in human events with a God that is not invovled and leaves humanity to work its own problems out. This position is what Jones has called Humanocentric Theism. God exists, but God ain't inovled. Agree or disagree it is an important work that all of those interested in Black Liberation Theology should read.

Provocative

This book is very well thought out. The author tries to give an argument about God. The title is a little misleading because of what he addresses. His argument is basically this: If God is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and all loving, why do black people suffer? I don't want to spoil this book, but if you are reading this review (no matter what race you are), you really should spend the money on this book. It is worth it, I assure you.