My Soul Looks Back (Revised) by James H. Cone

The book was completed and ready for publication when Cone passed away in 2018. Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody was posthumously published. I think that because of his theological method, heavily drawing on his personal and cultural experience, that you need to start with one or both of his memoirs. Many people want to jump into early constructive theology, God of the Oppressed or A Black Theology of Liberation. In my lay opinion, I think that people tend to approach Cone wrong. I have not read all of his books, although I will probably read all of them eventually (there are not that many). Over this past weekend, I picked up the audiobook and listened to it (having previously read it when it first came out.) I am not a Cone scholar. It was this background that a friend of a friend asked to discuss Cone. Andre Henry wrote an article about the controversy which was widely shared. The controversy continued with the president of the seminary where Strickland works both defending Strickland and calling Cone a heretic and 'almost certainly not a Christian' on twitter. That gave rise to calls for Strickland to resign. There are several causes for that, but one of the threads that has given rise to the discussion is that Walter Strickland, one of only a handful of Black professors at a Southern Baptist seminary, was quoted by Molly Worthen in an NYT article saying that he assigned James H Cone and found value in interacting with him. James H Cone has been a frequent concern in many conservative white Christian circles over the past year. You need to understand Cone to get his Theology

Recounting lessons learned both from critics and students, and the ongoing challenge of his models King, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin, he describes his efforts to use theology as a tool in the struggle against oppression and for a better world. In this powerful and passionate memoir - his final work - Cone describes the obstacles he overcame to find his voice, to respond to the signs of the times, and to offer a voice for those - like the parents who raised him in Bearden, Arkansas, in the era of lynching and Jim Crow - who had no voice. With these works, he established himself as one of the most prophetic and challenging voices of our time.

Prompted by the Detroit riots and the death of King, Cone, a young theology professor, was impelled to write his first book, Black Theology and Black Power, followed by A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone is widely recognized as the founder of Black Liberation Theology - a synthesis of the Gospel message embodied by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the spirit of black pride embodied by Malcolm X.

My Soul Looks Back (Revised) by James H. Cone