46 Quotes by James H. Cone

Luke’s Gospel was clear: Jesus’s ministry was essentially liberation on behalf of the poor and the oppressed. I didn’t need a doctorate in theology to know that liberation defined the heart of Jesus’s ministry. Black people had been preaching and singing about it for centuries.

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.

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

The cross can heal and hurt; it can be empowering and liberating but also enslaving and oppressive. There is no one way in which the cross can be interpreted. I offer my reflections because I believe that the cross placed alongside the lynching tree can help us to see Jesus in America in a new light, and thereby empower people who claim to follow him to take a stand against white supremacy and every kind of injustice.

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

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

One can lynch a person without a rope or tree.

If the Church is to remain faithful to its Lord, it must make a decisive break with the structure of this society by launching a vehement attack on the evils of racism in all forms. It must become prophetic, demanding a radical change in the interlocking structures of this society. This.

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.