Black Theology-Essays on Global Perspectives

Since its start in 1966, black liberation theology in the United States has continually engaged international developments with Africa and the entire world. But after Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990, there has been an almost twenty-year break in books on black theology and international affairs. Black Theology--Essays on Global Perspectives bridges that post-1990 gap and makes a vital contact with Africa again. This book conceptualizes black theology to take on the global reconfigurations and opportunities brought about by the rapidly shrinking earth of fast-paced, worldwide contacts. In other words, in the specificity of the genealogy of black theology, we need to reforge ties with Africa. This claim is based on tradition. And in the generality of the larger worldwide intertwining of technologies and economics, we need a new type of black theological leadership for the twenty-first century. This claim is based on today's international challenges. The essays in this book draw on tradition and point forward in the midst of today's worldwide challenges and favorable possibilities, given the closeness of all nations and the varieties of cultures. ""Black Theology--Essays on Global Perspectives displays Dwight Hopkins' unrivaled expertise in the internationalist dimensions of the discipline. Hopkins has always been at the forefront of the global developments in Black, theo-political discourse, from his formative engagement with EATWOT to his founding of the International Association of Black Religions and Spiritualities. This text outlines a lifetime commitment as a Black liberation theologian committed to the emancipation and full life of all marginalized peoples across the globe. The essays in this book outline a bold and imaginative trajectory for Black Theology. This is a must-read."" --Anthony Reddie, Extraordinary Professor, Theological Ethics, The University of South Africa; Editor, Black Theology: An International Journal ""Black Theology reflects the tremendous breadth and depth of issues that Dwight N. Hopkins has been committed to throughout his accomplished career as a scholar, griot, activist, father, brother, and son. Hopkins represents Black American theology at its best--fierce and hopeful, reflective and expansive, centered and global. This select collection of his essays is deeply contextual, intergenerational, material, and spiritual. His is a stirring testament to the power of progressive theological witness, grounded in the experience of America's communities of Blackness, giving expression to that which is universally human and life-giving."" --Alton B. Pollard, III, Dean and Professor of Religion and Culture, Howard University School of Divinity FOR FRONT MATTER: ""In this text, Dwight Hopkins does a great service to Black Theology: he offers up the global diasporic beginnings of this discourse in order to chart its continued relevancy for today's social justice movements. Such African diasporic consciousness helps one see the interconnected nature of racial, economic, and political struggles around the world. Hopkins looks to the past in order to cast visions of hope for the future of Black Theology."" --Keri Day, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University; Author of Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism ""Black Theology: Essays in Global Perspectives is a revelation. With this work Dwight Hopkins gives us a gift. This intellectual autobiography takes us on the journey that is the diasporan story of Black Theology. Through narrating his intellectual passions as they grow and change over time, Hopkins makes Black Theology a living and breathing project and not just an intellectual curiosity. For this he is to be thanked, many times over."" --Stephen G. Ray, Jr., President, Society for the Study of Black Religion Dwight N. Hopkins is Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago. He is the founder of the International Association of Black Rel