“Jesus is Black because He was a Jew.” De la Blackness/Négritude dans la Christologie de James H. Cone
This research focuses on the contemporary identity of Jesus as formulated by African-American Methodist theologian James H. Cone. More specifically, it aims to examine the notion of Blackness attributed to Christ, as well as the theological issues it raises.
By analysing and commenting on Cone’s works, the research reports on his Christological proposition: ‘Jesus is Black because He was a Jew’, rooted in the particular (spiritual, political, cultural) experience of African Americans. For the theologian, Jesus’ Jewish identity is revealed in his identification with the poor, the oppressed, and Black people, whom he liberates and empowers to fight against systems and structures of oppression. Blackness, or Négritude, thus appears as a revolutionary and provocative notion, expressing the mystery of the person and mission of Christ’s liberation, as revealed in the Scriptures.
However, this theological elaboration reveals certain silences, which will give rise to womanist theology. The criticisms levelled by the latter, as well as the highlighting of the limitations of Cone’s Christology, allow for a more comprehensive and richer approach to the notion of Blackness applied to Christ, insofar as it takes into account the suffering experience of Black women as well as their capacity for survival and resistance.
At the end of this study, Négritude, used to translate Blackness, acquires a theological content dense enough to express the identity of Christ based on the experience of Africans descended from the African continent and the Caribbean. The Négritude of Jesus refers to the revelation of Christ who transforms the night of the oppressed into a dawn of resurrection.