The Cross and the Lynching Tree / [print]
James H. Cone.
- Maryknoll, New York : Orbis Books, (c)2011.
- xix, 202 pages ; 21 cm
"Nobody knows de trouble I see": The cross and the lynching tree in the black experience ; "The terrible beauty of the cross" and the tragedy of the lynching tree: A reflection on Reinhold Niebuhr ; Bearing the cross and staring down the lynching tree: Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle to redeem the soul of America ; The recrucified Christ in black literary imagination ; "Oh Mary, don't you weep".
The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and black death, the cross symbolizes divine power and black life God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Lynching-Tree-James-Cone/dp/1626980055/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1599686911&sr=1-1
James H. Cone (1938-2018) was the Bill and Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary. His books include A Black Theology of Liberation, Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare, and The Cross and the Lynching Tree, winner of the 2018 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. This year he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.