James H. Cone Quotes

• To sing about freedom and to pray for its coming is not enough. Freedom must be actualized in history by oppressed peoples who accept the intellectual challenge to analyze the world for the purpose of changing it.

  James H. Cone

  Freedom, Acceptance, Challenges

  70 Copy quote

• Any theology that is indifferent to the theme of liberation is not Christian theology.

  James H. Cone

  Christian, Theme, Liberation

  James H. Cone (1970). “A Black Theology of Liberation”, p.9, Orbis Books

  77 Copy quote

• Indeed our survival and liberation depend upon our recognition of the truth when it is spoken and lived by the people. If we cannot recognize the truth, then it cannot liberate us from untruth. To know the truth is to appropriate it, for it is not mainly reflection and theory. Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating the human action of liberation.

  James H. Cone

  Reflection, Creating, People

  69 Copy quote

• The truth about injustice always sounds outrageous.

  James H. Cone

  Truth, Sound, Injustice

  62 Copy quote

• Black racism is a myth created by whites to ease their guilt feelings. As long as whites can be assured that blacks are racists, they can find reasons to justify their own oppression of’ black people.

  James H. Cone

  White, Long, Racism

  James H. Cone “Black Theology and Black Power”, Orbis Books

  79 Copy quote

• In the act of worship itself, the experience of liberation becomes a constituent of the community's being . . . It is the power of God's Spirit invading the lives of the people, "building them up where they are torn down and propping them up on every leaning side".

  James H. Cone

  People, Community, Down And

  38 Copy quote

• Black churches are very powerful forces in the African American community and always have been. Because religion has been that one place where you have an imagination that no one can control. And so, as long as you know that you are a human being and nobody can take that away from you, then God is that reality in your life that enables you to know that.

  James H. Cone

  Powerful, Reality, Long

  44 Copy quote

• Anger and humor are like the left and right arm. They complement each other. Anger empowers the poor to declare their uncompromising opposition to oppression, and humor prevents them from being consumed by their fury.

  James H. Cone

  Empowering, African American, Empowerment

  James H. Cone (1992). “Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare”, p.333, Orbis Books

  55 Copy quote

• The coming of Christ means a denial of what we thought we were. It means destroying the white devil in us. Reconciliation to God means that white people are prepared to deny themselves (whiteness), take up the cross (blackness) and follow Christ (black ghetto).

  James H. Cone

  Mean, Ghetto, White

  James H. Cone “Black Theology and Black Power”, Orbis Books

  66 Copy quote

• If we save the planet and have a society of inequality, we wouldn't have saved much.

  James H. Cone

  Environmental, Planets, Inequality

  44 Copy quote

• While the rich reap most of the benefits of technological development, the poor bear an unequal burden of dealing with the consequences of the resulting increased pollution. The poor continue to live in greatest proximity to the sources of pollution, the infrastructure and machinery of industry. They work in the most polluted and physically dangerous workplaces. And these same individuals, living and working closest to the sources of environmental catastrophe, are also the ones most lacking decent health care.

  James H. Cone

  Technological Development, Environmental, Bears

  53 Copy quote

• One can lynch a person without a rope or tree.

  James H. Cone

  Tree, Rope, Notable

  James H. Cone (2011). “The Cross and the Lynching Tree”, p.163, Orbis Books

  23 Copy quote

• The acid test of any truth is found in whether it aids victims in their struggle to overcome victimisation.

  James H. Cone

  Struggle, Overcoming, Tests

  James H. Cone (1984). “For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church”, p.151, Orbis Books

  35 Copy quote

• To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!

  James H. Cone

  Christian, People, Black

  James H. Cone “Black Theology and Black Power”, Orbis Books

  32 Copy quote

• Testimony is an integral part of the Black religious tradition. It is the occasion where the believer stands before the community of faith in order to give account of the hope that is in him or her.

  James H. Cone

  Religious, Order, Giving

  24 Copy quote

• The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture

  James H. Cone

  Philosophical, Simple, Soul

  34 Copy quote

• Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

  James H. Cone

  His Love, Holy, Cones

  James H. Cone (1970). “A Black Theology of Liberation”, p.74, Orbis Books

  13 Copy quote

• Patrick Cheng's Radical Love is not only an excellent introduction to LGBT theology but an important contribution to the discipline of theology and the life of the church. It is a must read for anyone who cares about the health of the church and theology today.

  James H. Cone

  Love Is, Discipline, Important

  11 Copy quote

• Anger and humour are like the left and right arm. They complement each other.

  James H. Cone

  Arms, Humour, Complement

  12 Copy quote

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