How can I integrate Barth and social justice? Is it worth trying? I really don’t know. But when Cone writes that “The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God's own condition,” I want to say that this implies to me that before God assumes blackness, he is free to choose it. And in this thought I hear Barth. Is that fair? Can we say that without freedom then, the freedom of God to be God, justice is impossible? (A Black Theology of Liberation, p. 63)
I should probably let it go, but I feel nourished by both.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteCone was a Barthian back then, so I think it is appropriate to link Barthian theology to social justice. In fact, Cone did his PhD dissertation on Barth's theological anthropology.
Hope that helps.