Black Theology – A Christianity for African Americans

Arginase causes L-arginine to be destroyed so that L-arginine is no longer available to the enzyme nitric oxide synthetase.

The Magic Bullet Series: L-arginine ; the African-American Community!

James Cone has been called “the father” of black theology, “the leading exponent of black theology,” and the “premier black theologian” (Burrow, 1993, p. 1).

Cone wrote the first systematic treatment of black theology.; His books, articles, and lectures launched black liberation theology into the national and international theological arena. Second, Joseph Washington’s (1964); book Black Religion was one of the major writings to argue that black religion is not identical to white Protestantism or any other expression of Euro-American Christianity.; “Rejecting the thesis of earlier studies that viewed Black religion as one aspect of the broader category of North American Protestantism, Washington asserted that it was actually a distinctive phenomenon in North American religious life” (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 204).; Finally, with the influence of Malcolm X, phrases like “black nationalism,” “black pride,” and “black power” emerged to raise black consciousness and reclaim black identity in American society.

The three historical benchmarks – the civil rights movement, Black Religion, and the black power movement; -provided the context in which black theology emerged as a formal theological movement. King’s theological voice merged with Malcolm’s Black Nationalism to construct a theology oriented towards black people (Burrow, 1993).; While it is difficult to impose a single definition on black theology because of its numerous strands and wide spectrum of tenets from modem to radical, Cone and Wilmore; (1993, p. 370) define it as “that theology which arises out of the need to articulate the religious significance of [the] Black presence in a hostile White world. As Cone (1993, p. 106); writes, “Black theology puts black identity into a theological context, showing that black power is not only consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ: it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The civil rights movement created the context, and King provided a model for combining Christianity and social justice.

King addressed Christianity’s social irrelevancy with a protest-based theology that focused on the social conditions of the oppressed. As King (1958, p. 36) said:

King recognized the relationship between theology and social engagement. Theology cannot be disconnected from social transformation.

Martin Luther King Jr. made public his unwavering conviction that the Christian faith had to address economic disparity, racial discrimination, and social oppression.

King’s socially conscious theology advanced two ideas: protest and social justice (Cone, 1990). Cone (1984, p. 53) understood King’s protest theology as a “systematic and comprehensive exposition of the Christian faith using the black experience of struggle as the chief source. There were no black systematic theologies that black theologians could model.” Therefore, King created a model for black theologians that would apply the gospel to social change. Within the context of the stated, it is apparent that black theology’s content (the gospel message of liberation) and its goal (freedom and hope) originated, in part, from King’s socially conscious theology. King established a theological paradigm for equating the gospel message with social transformation. On the one hand, Cone affirmed King’s theological approach to racial justice, asserting that King was correct that Christianity was compatible with the fight for social justice. King articulated a socially-relevant gospel that contained a message of freedom and liberation. On the other hand, Cone saw two flaws in King’s theology. Cone believed that King did not understand the complexities of racism in America, and he did not adequately advocate for a black identity.; Accordingly, Cone turned to Malcolm X for a sense of black identity. Malcolm taught Cone that the struggle for freedom was inextricably linked to blackness.; In addition, Malcolm revealed to Cone the psychological damage inflicted upon black Americans, increasing the need for a black religion that starts with the experiences of black people. According to Cone, religions could not be developed independent from the black experience and this is precisely where Malcolm X influenced him.; By merging King and Malcolm X’s strengths, Cone argued for a synthesis in Christian faith that elevated black experience.; His black theology is the outcome of the aforementioned.

Minnesota’s African American Leadership Model–A fine example of Totalitarianism …The 2009 version of how our own will sell us back into Slavery

The availability of college scholarships for black women is rising yearly and is continuing to provide a solid foundation for the future.

Case in point, African American scholarships for women is a subdivision of open financial aid awards. In comparison to other award scholarships, African American scholarships for women offers many opportunities within this award that’s not available through other awards. To explain this more in detail, did you know that the Development Fund for Black Students in Science and Technology Foundation gives out scholarships to black students who enroll in the science and technology fields at (HBCU) historically black colleges?

African American Scholarships For Women Who Are Out of Work

On Saturday, (11/21) I ventured to General Mills to catch a glimpse of the 170 African-American “hand-picked” leaders for the African-American Leadership Forum. White Minnesota feels comfortable working with him.

The sad thing about the African American Leadership forum is, organizations “self-charged” with the organizing of this model – Northwest Foundation; Headwaters Foundation and the Stairstep Foundation recognize no limits to their authority and strive to regulate every aspect of Black engagement wherever feasible.

If you recall, in August I invited you and Mr. Edwards to participate in African-American Leadership Forum.

As Trista has outlined in her e-mail to you today, the African American Leadership Forum does have a process for people who are interested in participating.

We appreciate your interest in working to improve the lives of African American people. The members of African American Leadership Forum are also dedicated to this effort.

I attest that the African-American Leadership Forum held at General Mills on Saturday, November 21, 2009 is in violation of Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law.

The folly the Black community had suffered at the hands of the same high-brow, stratified Black people must stop now.

East African Community

During the eighties’ Gorbachev Perestroyka, USSR and USA tried to implement several cooperation projects for Africa’s development.

During the years of independence, African countries have received international aid on the amount of more than two trillion dollars. Some countries have simply vanished. Moreover, the existing system of international welfare favors corruption both in Africa and in donor states, and is greatly responsible for the further destruction of African economies.

I am talking about people who have been doing small and medium size businesses in Africa for decades: Europeans, Americans, Asians. Some of these people have come, like I did, to work in Africa.

Recently, I came across another article published in Forbes, “The Business of Africa” ( forbes/2009/1005/opinions-marshall-plan-africa-ideas-opinions.html] ).

The main difference between the original Marshall Plan and the current system of economic aid to African countries is the former was structurally oriented.

Moreover, such plan would only make sense if the creditor states agree on the actual aim of the economic aid.

The East African community commonly refers to the three East African states namely Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, within the recent past it has been used to refer to Rwanda and Burundi which are pushing forward to join the block and be it’s forth and Fifth member states. The region (EA) boast of a huge population of around 100 million people currently, like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa , east Africa is faced with problems including the cases of HIV Aids, famine, draught and poor levels of industrialization.

The three east African countries share a rich history, all the three of them like most African countries were once under colonial rule, before the second world war Kenya and Uganda were under British rule while Tanzania was under German rule, after the defeat of Germany in the second world war Tanzania also came under British rule.

Soon after their independence the three states were effectively on course to forming the first federation in Africa. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have had a history of co-operation dating back to the early 20th century, including the Customs Union between Kenya and Uganda in 1917, which the then Tanganyika joined in 1927, the East African High Commission (1948-1961), the East African Common Services Organization (1961-1967), The East Africa Railways, a united airline and the East African Community (1967-1977)

The first federation in east Africa federation collapsed within a short period since by 1977 the federation was already dead.

  • Lack of institutional capacity building.
  • Similarity of export goods leading to below par trade among the member states.
  • Leadership problems between the heads of states especially between Nyerere and Idi Amin (This later led to war between Tanzania and Uganda).

 

The efforts towards the creation of a second political union of east Africa have already taken root.

(1) The fact that the community has already introduced the East African legislative assembly (EALA). The members of parliament in the east African assembly are appointed by the respective countries parliaments and finally approved by the respective heads of states (presidents) The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is the legislative arm of the Community. The EALA has 27 members.

Establishment of the community’s judicial court system:

East African Court of Justice

The East African Court of Justice is the judicial arm of the Community. The members of the east African court of justice just like their legislative counterparts are elected from their respective countries. The shilling was the currency issued for use in Kenya, British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda and parts of Yemen during the time these areas were British colonies and protectorates. The east African shilling ceased to be in use as each member introduced its own local currency on achievement of independence from Britain. It is also the proposed name for a common currency that the East African Community plans to introduce by the end of 2009. There are also plans for the introduction of a common market for the East African Community. Within the east African community it is bound to be even more intense since the three member states are primarily agricultural based. A common system of tariffs will apply to other countries supplying the three countries with goods.

The core budget of the EAC’s Secretariat is funded by equal contributions from the Partner States.

Benefits:

Since the community is in the process of introducing a Single Tourist Visa, if approved the visa will be valid for all three current member states of the EAC (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). When approved, the Visa will be applicable in all the three regional member states.

The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the Great Rift Valley, East Africa is the site of Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the two tallest peaks in Africa. Today, tourism is an important part of the economies of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. East African Passport

The East African passport was officially launched on 1 April 1999. The East African passport has been introduced as a travel document to ease border crossing for East Africans. It is valid for travel within the EAC countries only and will entitle the holder to a multi entry stay of renewable six months’ validity in any of the countries.[9] The passport is issued in all three EAC member states (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). Only East African nationals may apply to be issued with the passports. For those activities whose implementation required additional finances from governments timing for inclusion in the budget process was crucial. Partner States are not equally developed.

Nye Joseph S. (1965) Pan African and east African integration, Harvard university press, Cambridge

Paul J. Kaiser, F. Wafula Okumu, (2004), Democratic Transitions in East Africa, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Ulrich Koester, (1986), Regional Cooperation to Improve Food Security in Southern and Eastern African Countries, International Food Policy Research Institute.

William Tordoff, Government and politics in Africa (1984) Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

William Tordoff, Government and politics in Tanzania: a collection of essays covering the period from September 1960 to July 1966: (1967), East African Pub.

Ouma Oyugi (1994) Politics and administration in East Africa, East African Educational Publishers, Nairobi, Kenya

1 2 3 4 5 14 15