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The Cross and the Lynching Tree
The Cross and the Lynching Tree | James H. Cone
6 posts | 11 read | 8 to read
A landmark in the conversation about race and religion in America. "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree." Acts 10:39 The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and "black death," the cross symbolizes divine power and "black life" God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.
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BarbaraJean
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Pickpick

This had been on my radar for a while, but I didn‘t read it until it showed up on my Education for Ministry reading list this year. Cone explores the parallels between the cross and the lynching tree, and the way the cross provided a radical identification with Jesus for the black community during the era of lynching in the United States. It‘s a measure of my own privilege that this is a parallel I‘d never considered. Never had to consider. ⬇️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) My group‘s discussions of the book landed just before Easter: we finished the book the day after Palm Sunday. So I approached Good Friday this year with the image of the lynching tree standing behind my reflections on the cross. This was profoundly uncomfortable. But it also deepened my experience of Good Friday and rightly refocused my eyes on Christ‘s radical identification with the oppressed. ⬇️ 7mo
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) I‘d highly recommend this to anyone interested in issues of racism and religion in the United States. It‘s a heavy, troubling read, but an excellent one. 7mo
45 likes2 comments
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swynn
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Pickpick

(2011) It's a powerful exploration of the relationship between the cross and the phenomenon of lynching: the epidemic of racist mob violence in Jim Crow America, and the institutionalized racism which continues today.

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AvidReader25
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Mehso-so

The book compares the lynchings of black people to the crucifixion of Christ. While there's a fascinating & accurate parallel, not much was said beyond giving a history of lynching & showing the hypocrisy of white Christians who were involved. I wish it was less repetitive & dove deeper into what that parallel should mean for Christians. It's a heartbreaking piece of our history, but one that is critical that we not forget or look away from.

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hwestfall
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This is a quote by James Baldwin that James Cone references in chapter two of the book. I have read it three of four times. "But they're mainly silent people, you know. And that is a crime in itself."

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hwestfall
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I've been wanting to read this book for awhile. My pencil is ready and I am digging in.

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JLaurenceCohen

The late James Cone was the preeminent black liberation theologian. The Cross and the Lynching Tree is a beautiful culmination of his long career.

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