{"id":96,"date":"2009-09-03T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-03T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/2009\/09\/what-color-is-3.html"},"modified":"2009-09-03T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-03T02:00:00","slug":"what-color-is-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2009\/09\/what-color-is-3.html","title":{"rendered":"What Color Is Jesus–A case study in jazz theology (part 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

(Todays post is a bit long but I wanted to keep the continuity of thought)<\/p>\n

<\/a> "Jesus Is Black,"<\/strong> said James Cone in 1975 as he interpreted Matthew 25. <\/p>\n

"Christ's blackness is the American expression of the truth of his parable about the Last Judgement: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me."<\/p>\n

"The least in America are literally and symbolically present in black people. To say that Christ is black means that black people are God's poor people whom Christ has come to liberate. And thus no gospel of Jesus Christ is possible in America<\/strong> without coming to terms with the history and culture of that people who struggled to bear witness to his name in extreme circmustances."<\/p>\n

<\/a>"Christ is black<\/strong>, therefore, not because of some cultural or psychological need of black people, but because and only because Christ really<\/em> enters into our world where the poor, the despised, and the black are, disclosing that he is with them, enduring their humiliation and pain and transforming oppressed slaves into liberated servants. Indeed, if Christ is not truly<\/em> black, then the historical Jesus lied."<\/strong><\/p>\n

"My point is that God came, and continues to come, to those who are poor and helpless, for the purpose of setting them free. And since the people of color are his elected poor in America, any interpretation of God that ignores black oppression cannot be Christian theology<\/strong>."<\/p>\n

That was then, this is now…<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>So what color is Jesus today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jazz is all about the moment. Moments that may or may not be reproduced. Jazz is about playing the same song a new way each time because of the convergence of the audience, band, and any number of other factors. The same is true with jazz theology.<\/p>\n

James Cone said that Jesus was black in 1975. His reasoning was as follows, "If we assume that the Risen Lord is truly present with us<\/strong> as defined by his past history and witnessed by Scripture and tradition, what then does his presence mean in the social context of white racism? If Jesus' presence is real and not docetic, is it not true that Christ must be black in order to remain faithful to the divine promise to bear the suffering of the poor?"<\/p>\n

But that was then and this is now<\/strong>. Cone wrote those words in 1975. Classical theology says, once a proposition, always a proposition. Jazz is different. Cone realized that the song he was playing was but for a moment of convergence that would pass away. In the midst of his case for the blackness of Jesus<\/strong> he said this, "Of course, I realize that 'blackness' as a christological title may not be appropriate in the distant future or even in every human context in our present.<\/strong>"<\/p>\n

And so I ask, Has that "distant future" arrived? Has Jesus ceased to be black?<\/strong> Has the condition of black people changed significantly in the last 20 years so that we can move on to a different color or a different question all together? In the words of James Cone we must always be asking, "Who is Jesus Christ for us today?"<\/p>\n

(Please forgive me for not playing fair. To ask all the quesitons and not disclose one's own answers is to sit in the seat of power. In my next post I'll give my answer as to what color I think Jesus is.)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(quotes taken from "God of the Oppressed" by James Cone)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Todays post is a bit long but I wanted to keep the continuity of thought) "Jesus Is Black," said James Cone in 1975 as he interpreted Matthew 25. 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Author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and the upcoming, Strange Fruit: The Cross as a Way of Life (2011). Founder of Project 127, a ministry dedicated to seeing the day when there are no children waiting for homes in Colorado's foster care system. Robert deeply desires to see the body of Christ mobilized to serve the least of these. The poor, the down and out, the disenfranchised and disabled, those deemed unimportant and the unborn. He believes that God loves all people yet he has a special heart for the poor and the poor in spirit, the miserable and the marginalized. A Contributing Editor for Leadership Journal and Urbanfaith.com. He acquired a B.A. in Bibilcal Studies from Colorado Christian University and a Master of Arts in World Christianity (Missiology) from Denver Seminary. Robert is married to the love of his life, Barbara, and they have six energetic children (3 boys & 3 girls--one bio, five adopted--two from Ethiopia). Friend of God...Passionate about the Body of Christ...Lover of this thing called jazz! Please visit Jazztheologian.com for contact info., speaking schedule, videos, Facebook and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/author\/rgelinas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}