In Search of a Black Men's Theology? Part Two
Black Men's Theology
In light of today's Washington Post article, cited on page A4, and its forthcoming, new feature series entitled, "Being a Black Man," I felt it was necessary to dedicate the June issue of Phoenix to the subject: "Black Men's Theology."
The discipline of Black Men’s Studies calls for a Critical Black Men’s Theology, one that uses as its standpoint the theological doctrine of humanity. It represents a critical Black Men’s Theology that is in dialogue with Womanist and Black Feminist Theology. It seeks to address relevant criticisms of the black theology project raised by Jacquelyn Grant and other womanist theologians concerning the issue of gender in theological and black church spheres-the public and private. Parallel to that understanding is the question of whether black men have also possessed souls worthy of examination. This discussion is supported and promoted with a serious reading and critique of the writings of many Black men religious intellectuals, including Benjamin Mays, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and others.
Black men do have a gender as theologian Dwight Hopkins reminds us in his classic work Head and Heart: Black Theology: Past, Present, and Future.
Hopkins asserts:
Too many people within the African American community, church, and black
theology believe that gender concerns only women. When the gender issue becomes the center of discussion, most black men, for example, become like corpses. Their tongues grow silent; their bodies drop to a limp posture; and their presence fades into a ghostlike absence. Gender, from their vantage point, relates only to black women. If this logic is true, they reason, then it would be another example of black male sexism to enter the conversation and dominate what is said and not said. The flip side of this belief is that African American men do have a gender, which is obviously false. Black men have a male gender, so gender refers to both men and women.[1]
While I agree with Hopkins’ basic argument, I do depart on one aspect, the aspect of linking the term “male” to gender identity. Such a categorization fits a physiological definition. However, as one considers the socio-cultural and historical condition of black men in America, past, present, nationally, and transnationally, black men must reclaim the definition of their own gender identity and must define that as that of a “man.” Even as it is agreed that the designation of “manhood” is a social construction, so also it must be affirmed that the designation, “male” holds a parallel, socially constructed connotation.
The distinction between the two terms has been interpreted by black men psychologists as being inadequate depictions of a much more complex reality perpetually facing black men, throughout our average shorter life spans. Na’im Akbar, argues that the term “male” translates more closely to “boy” and “mannish,” and indicates that both designations fail miserably in attempting to “represent” or actually achieve a healthy, spiritually holistic, progressive manhood. So, why do we continually choose to put new wine into old wineskins?
Even when one adopts the in between and ambivalent perspective shared by Claude Brown in his important novel, Manchild in the Promised Land,” one has to go beyond maleness and masculinity in order to fully understand the enormous complexities constitutive of transnational black manhood.[2] Economically marginalized sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee affirmed in thought and deed that they were indeed, “Men.” Placards read, “I Am a Man,” with no reference to male, manchild, or the equivalent.
Womanist Theology and the Development of a Black Men’s Theology
To be sure, black men, in adopting a critical Black Men’s Theology, musty come to terms with the good, bad, and the ugly of our existence and the relationships bettered and hampered by our traumatic experience in America. One such arena where we must answer the bell is in the area of theology and the lay church. Womanist theologians Jacquelyn Grant, Delores Williams, and Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, in calling for a Womanist theology, led the charge in critiquing black theology for avoiding the gender issue in the seminary, through scholarly writing, and within the lay black church. In keeping with the womanist critique of black theology, the works of James Cone, J. DeOtis Roberts, and Dwight N. Hopkins establishe the intellectual foundations for a critical Black Men’s Theology, as well as makes a larger case for a Black Men’s Religious Studies. Hopkins, in his books, Head and Heart: Black Theology—Past, Present, and Future and Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion offers a type of humane and probing portrayal of black men from a religio-spiritual standpoint, one which adheres to notions of personal accountability as much as it promotes collective liberation for the souls, bodies, and minds of black men. [3]
Other examples undergirding the foundation of a Black Men’s Theology can be located in the lives, examples, autobiographies, testimonies, and institutions of many black men religious intellectuals, theologians, and believers. Among the more notable luminaries included in this group are Benjamin Mays, Howard W. Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Albert Cleage, Jr., James Cone, James H. Evans, the Hon. Louis Farrakhan, Ben Ami, and everyday working class black men. Although I posit Black Men’s Theology from a Black Christian theological standpoint, it evident in such a construction are the tremendous influences resulting from the cultural fusion of various religious worldviews adopted and practiced by black men in America, including traditional African religion, Judaism, Islam, and many others.
Lastly, a relevant Black Men’s Theology must come to grips with the critical work done in the area of African American Religious Humanism by Dr. Anthony B. Pinn. Among his notable works, applicable to linking black men and the practice of religious humanism or secular humanism, that must be read include: Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black religion (2003), African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod (2004), Loving the Black Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic (2004), and By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism, and Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music (2003). Future issues of Phoenix will explore the relationship of African American men to this growing religious and spiritual sensibility called humanism.
But I end on offering this set of question:s Where is the Humanism in Black religion, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc? Why do the masses of black men reject religion and need to locate other areas of life (sports, gangs, etc) in which to express their humanity, even if it is wayward? Put another way: Who took the humanity out of the Black Church?
[1] Dwight N. Hopkins. Between Head and Heart: Black Theology, Past, Present, and Future. New York: Palgrave, 2003, 91.
[2] . Na’im Akbar. Visions for Black Men. Tallahassee: Mind Productions & Associates, 1993; Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land. New York: New American Library, 1965.
[3] Jame H. Cone and Gayraud Wilmore, eds. Black Theology: A Documentary History Volume Two, 1980-1992. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1993, 257-344.
In light of today's Washington Post article, cited on page A4, and its forthcoming, new feature series entitled, "Being a Black Man," I felt it was necessary to dedicate the June issue of Phoenix to the subject: "Black Men's Theology."
The discipline of Black Men’s Studies calls for a Critical Black Men’s Theology, one that uses as its standpoint the theological doctrine of humanity. It represents a critical Black Men’s Theology that is in dialogue with Womanist and Black Feminist Theology. It seeks to address relevant criticisms of the black theology project raised by Jacquelyn Grant and other womanist theologians concerning the issue of gender in theological and black church spheres-the public and private. Parallel to that understanding is the question of whether black men have also possessed souls worthy of examination. This discussion is supported and promoted with a serious reading and critique of the writings of many Black men religious intellectuals, including Benjamin Mays, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and others.
Black men do have a gender as theologian Dwight Hopkins reminds us in his classic work Head and Heart: Black Theology: Past, Present, and Future.
Hopkins asserts:
Too many people within the African American community, church, and black
theology believe that gender concerns only women. When the gender issue becomes the center of discussion, most black men, for example, become like corpses. Their tongues grow silent; their bodies drop to a limp posture; and their presence fades into a ghostlike absence. Gender, from their vantage point, relates only to black women. If this logic is true, they reason, then it would be another example of black male sexism to enter the conversation and dominate what is said and not said. The flip side of this belief is that African American men do have a gender, which is obviously false. Black men have a male gender, so gender refers to both men and women.[1]
While I agree with Hopkins’ basic argument, I do depart on one aspect, the aspect of linking the term “male” to gender identity. Such a categorization fits a physiological definition. However, as one considers the socio-cultural and historical condition of black men in America, past, present, nationally, and transnationally, black men must reclaim the definition of their own gender identity and must define that as that of a “man.” Even as it is agreed that the designation of “manhood” is a social construction, so also it must be affirmed that the designation, “male” holds a parallel, socially constructed connotation.
The distinction between the two terms has been interpreted by black men psychologists as being inadequate depictions of a much more complex reality perpetually facing black men, throughout our average shorter life spans. Na’im Akbar, argues that the term “male” translates more closely to “boy” and “mannish,” and indicates that both designations fail miserably in attempting to “represent” or actually achieve a healthy, spiritually holistic, progressive manhood. So, why do we continually choose to put new wine into old wineskins?
Even when one adopts the in between and ambivalent perspective shared by Claude Brown in his important novel, Manchild in the Promised Land,” one has to go beyond maleness and masculinity in order to fully understand the enormous complexities constitutive of transnational black manhood.[2] Economically marginalized sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee affirmed in thought and deed that they were indeed, “Men.” Placards read, “I Am a Man,” with no reference to male, manchild, or the equivalent.
Womanist Theology and the Development of a Black Men’s Theology
To be sure, black men, in adopting a critical Black Men’s Theology, musty come to terms with the good, bad, and the ugly of our existence and the relationships bettered and hampered by our traumatic experience in America. One such arena where we must answer the bell is in the area of theology and the lay church. Womanist theologians Jacquelyn Grant, Delores Williams, and Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, in calling for a Womanist theology, led the charge in critiquing black theology for avoiding the gender issue in the seminary, through scholarly writing, and within the lay black church. In keeping with the womanist critique of black theology, the works of James Cone, J. DeOtis Roberts, and Dwight N. Hopkins establishe the intellectual foundations for a critical Black Men’s Theology, as well as makes a larger case for a Black Men’s Religious Studies. Hopkins, in his books, Head and Heart: Black Theology—Past, Present, and Future and Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion offers a type of humane and probing portrayal of black men from a religio-spiritual standpoint, one which adheres to notions of personal accountability as much as it promotes collective liberation for the souls, bodies, and minds of black men. [3]
Other examples undergirding the foundation of a Black Men’s Theology can be located in the lives, examples, autobiographies, testimonies, and institutions of many black men religious intellectuals, theologians, and believers. Among the more notable luminaries included in this group are Benjamin Mays, Howard W. Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Albert Cleage, Jr., James Cone, James H. Evans, the Hon. Louis Farrakhan, Ben Ami, and everyday working class black men. Although I posit Black Men’s Theology from a Black Christian theological standpoint, it evident in such a construction are the tremendous influences resulting from the cultural fusion of various religious worldviews adopted and practiced by black men in America, including traditional African religion, Judaism, Islam, and many others.
Lastly, a relevant Black Men’s Theology must come to grips with the critical work done in the area of African American Religious Humanism by Dr. Anthony B. Pinn. Among his notable works, applicable to linking black men and the practice of religious humanism or secular humanism, that must be read include: Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black religion (2003), African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod (2004), Loving the Black Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic (2004), and By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism, and Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music (2003). Future issues of Phoenix will explore the relationship of African American men to this growing religious and spiritual sensibility called humanism.
But I end on offering this set of question:s Where is the Humanism in Black religion, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc? Why do the masses of black men reject religion and need to locate other areas of life (sports, gangs, etc) in which to express their humanity, even if it is wayward? Put another way: Who took the humanity out of the Black Church?
[1] Dwight N. Hopkins. Between Head and Heart: Black Theology, Past, Present, and Future. New York: Palgrave, 2003, 91.
[2] . Na’im Akbar. Visions for Black Men. Tallahassee: Mind Productions & Associates, 1993; Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land. New York: New American Library, 1965.
[3] Jame H. Cone and Gayraud Wilmore, eds. Black Theology: A Documentary History Volume Two, 1980-1992. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1993, 257-344.
posted by Zach Williams at 9:59 AM
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