Theology Today - Vol 40, No. 3 - October 1983 - BOOK REVIEW - Prophesy Deliverance: An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity

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Prophesy Deliverance!
An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity
By Cornel West
Philadelphia, Westminster, 1982. 185 pp. $11.95.

The author is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He lays the foundation for a prophetic Christianity which combines the liberation motif of black theology and the insights of progressive Marxism on economics (particularly capitalism) and the class struggle. West believes that philosophical inquiry is not empty, abstract, or pure speculation on technical intellectual pursuits which are unrelated to the essential and central issues of human existence. Neither does he believe that philosophy has any preeminent place of oversight toward other disciplines. Philosophy for West is a socially conscious intellectual endeavor with inherent and often unconscious cultural and political influences. It is a "cultural expression generated from and existentially grounded in the moods and sensibilities of a writer entrenched in the life-worlds of a people." West believes the relationship between culture and politics to be close. Thus he brings to the philosophical enterprise his own political and cultural perspective borne out of the Afro-American experience of oppression and unapologetically affirms and brokers that perspective.

West considers evangelical and pietistic Christianity with its radical and prophetic egalitarianism to be the most influential and enduring intellectual tradition for Afro-American thought. In his view, Afro-American thought is essentially historic in content and critical in

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character. Its major function is to provide a new shape to AfroAmerican history and a new self-understanding of the Afro-American experience which ought to suggest programmatic as well as theoretical guidelines for action in the present. To fulfill this function, Afro-American thought must engage in a number of tasks.

First, it must project or posit a comprehensive interpretive framework which includes the complexities and richness (the European and American influences as well as the African heritage) of the Afro-American experience. Secondly, it must engage in a genealogical inquiry into the variegated configurations and interplay of factors and forces which gave rise to the whole notion of white supremacy which has determined to a large extent the nature of the Afro-American encounter in the modern world. Third, Afro-American thought must provide an analysis of the various responses by Afro-Americans to white supremacy. Fourth, it proposes a dialogical encounter between Afro-American Christian thought and progressive Marxist analysis. Fifth, it must provide some pragmatic and programmatic conceptualizations for the struggle for liberation.

The book is essentially an exegesis or explication of these tasks. There is some glossing over of polity and hierarchical distinctions that exist among the various denominational traditions prevalent in the lives of Afro-Americans which can lead one, although not necessarily in this case, to view the Afro-American religious experience as either a monolith or a caricature. West nevertheless presents a very stimulating and preceptive historical analysis of the various economic, political, cultural, social, and ideological factors which helped to shape Afro-American life.

The central theoretical concern of this book, however, is West's thesis that there are intellectual linkages between the insights of progressive Marxism on capitalism and the class struggle and the Afro-American prophetic Christian liberation agenda. He believes that the suspicion and disdain with which these two disparate spheres of thought have viewed each other have been due to a mutual misunderstanding and outright ignorance of the others' position. West believes that the hope of Western civilization lies in an alliance between these two rejected stones and that the destiny of Afro-Americans, like most of the world, is inextricably interwoven with the fate of this civilization.

West has no illusions about the inherent differences between the two perspectives. However, he also feels that each can enrich the other. In his view the Marxist analysis of religion and culture is too narrow and dogmatic. The Afro-American experience in religion and its commitment to freedom can serve as a necessary corrective to the parochialism of Marxism . Black theology, on the other hand, is weakened by its failure to place the liberation of Afro-Americans within the larger international context and by its failure to fully explore the relationship between oppression and the socio-economic order. According to West, other than the later writings of James Cone, black theologians have not

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critiqued American capitalistic imperialism in the Third World and the grossly unequal distribution of wealth caused by its economic and political policies. In these instances, Marxism can serve as a corrective for the myopism of black theology.

Although West makes a convincing argument, one wonders if black thinkers, for whatever reasons, are prepared to incorporate Marxism into their theological perspective. West believes that class more than race is the basic form of powerlessness in America. Although some Afro-Americans would agree with this assertion for the rest of America, one wonders whether the majority of Afro-Americans would apply this opinion to their own predicament. Although their history in America began with the class oppression of slavery, which was essentially an economical institution, racism developed its own identity as a fact in their servitude. Since emancipation, racism has continued its own existence which has reached across class distinctions among AfroAmericans. American blacks have thus borne the double cross of racism and class oppression. Even though racism and class oppression are two sides of the same coin, they are nevertheless distinct sides. Thus, as important as West's critique of class is, in terms of the total liberation of Afro-Americans it is crucial to note that the prevalent opinion among a number of black Americans is that race rather than class is the preeminent factor which explains their state in the West.

This volume is commendable as a beginning of a theological perspective which goes beyond that which has been traditionally discussed as black liberation theology. However, even a liberation theology or a prophetic Christianity cannot define liberation solely in terms of socioeconomic liberation. Subjects such as theodicy and eschatology, themes which have meant so much to traditional Afro-American religious thought, while present, do not come through with the force that the author may have intended. But this is a good beginning, and I am sure that the American theological scene will hear much more from this prolific and provocative scholar.

William D. Watley
Consultation on Church Union
Princeton, New Jersey