The Power of a Black Christology: Africana Pastoral Theology Reflects on Black Divinity

Abstract

Butler discusses the psychological impact of a Black Christology. He explains why the image of a Black Christ was so important to the Black Consciousness Movement and is still crucial to the African American psyche today. Butler contends that many black people continue to suffer from a pervasive racial self-hatred informed by their inability to see the Imago Dei, the image of the divine, in themselves. He foregrounds two articles from the March 1969 edition of Ebony magazine, which features an image of a Black Jesus on the cover. Butler makes clear the impact that Cleage’s radical black Messiah had in not only improving the black self-image but also informing the development of an Africana pastoral theology, a theology of resistance and liberation.