Editorial

Abstract

In my own formative narrative as a Black liberation theologian and decolonial educator, I had to traverse the comparatively narrow Wesleyan evangelicalism into which I had been nurtured as a child. This was initially, no easy thing, given the fixed parameters of biblical authority, Holiness, Christian Perfection, and the doctrine of Assurance that permeated my Christian nurture and discipleship as a teenager in inner city Bradford. One of the early attractions of Black theology was the way in which it affirms contestation. Black theology has supported a systematic critique of orthodox, Western Christian theology, challenging long held and often cherished epistemological norms. Suddenly, I was no longer wedded to a colour bind, contextless perspective on the Christian faith. Rather, now I was in possession of a set of conceptual tools and religious praxis that amplified my lived realities and enabled me to become, a more critical thinker and advocate for justice and faith inspired models of liberation. This issue of our journal has been constructed like the last one against the backdrop of Black LivesMatter and the necessity of contesting the aberrant notion that our lives are somehowdisposable and of little consequent worth against the seemingly unyielding edifice that is White supremacy. The articles in this issue all share a commitment to exploring notions of contestation and asserting alternative truths. Whether through reinvestigating earlier iterations of Black theology thinking, or outlining new ways of interrogating existing religious phenomena, the articles in this issue are seeking to provide new avenues for contesting prevailing notions of Black disposability and the appropriation of Black suffering and pain. Allan Aubrey Boesak is one of the towering elders of the Black theologymovement and we honoured to publish what is his first article in our journal. This article is concerned with the necessity for Black oppressed peoples to cultivate a belief in a "fighting God" who is unequivocally committed to Black freedom. Central to this work is the iconic figure of Steve Biko. Even though Biko’s reflections on Black theology per se were sparse, they are extremely important in Boesak’s view, as they open up new avenues for Black theological reflection and praxis as regards the fundamental questions of integrity and authenticity in global struggles for freedom, equity and dignity. Boesak’s believes that in these struggles Black liberation theology is not only relevant but necessary. This article discusses the contexts within which modern South African Black theology came into being. It explores Biko’s definitions of Black theology and how they can give rise to a renewed praxis in post-apartheid South Africa and beyond. J. Andrew Calloway’s article explores the interface between what remains the major polarized philosophical and theological fault line in Black theology, namely, the divide between James H. Cone and William R. Jones. The former’s assertion in the unqualified liberative qualities of the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition was opposed by the latter’s critique of the faith based, theistic qualities of Cone’s conception of Black theology. Calloway’s article embarks upon a textual analysis of Jones’ pioneering text, Is God AWhite Racist?: A Preamble to Black Theology (1973). The article then proceeds to look at James H. Cone’s work to see how he addressed theodicy and suffering before Jones critique and after it, in order to see if the questions surrounding this debate altered his later constructive projects. Analysing the similar questions addressed by Jones and Cone and their subsequent debate provides us with the necessary material in order to construct a Black theology that commences with