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.

"The introduction to this edition by Cornel West was originally published in Dwight N. Hopkins, ed., Black Faith and Public Talk: Critical Essays on James H. Cone's Black Theology & Black Power (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999; reprinted 2007 by Baylor University Press)."

Jürgen Moltmann is a theological iconoclast, ever confronting the status quo. Stephen D. Morrison examines Moltmann's unique theology in this clear and accessible study. It is the third book of Morrison's Plain English Series, written "by a beginner, for beginners." This book studies each of Moltmann's major works of theology, including his most popular books (such as Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, and The Trinity and the Kingdom). Here we discuss Moltmann's groundbreaking proposals for eschatology, the Trinity, creation, and the suffering of God.

Developing out of a series of public lectures given to a large audience of non-theologians, this is one of the most attractive introductions to theology which has appeared so far. Perhaps, as Dorothee Soelle points out, in fact, "introduction" is not the right word, for this is above all an invitation to share her enthusiasm for theology, her delight in the beauty and the power of religious and theological language and the themes it expresses. The book covers all the major areas of modern theology. After discussing the nature of systematic theology and comparing orthodox, liberal, and radical approaches, it looks at the use of the Bible in theology. Then follow chapters on creation, sin, feminist liberation theology, the understanding of grace, Black theology, Jesus, cross and resurrection, the kingdom of God and the church, the theology of peace, the end of theism, and the question of God. Each chapter is followed by a bibliography, and Dorothee Soelle, who is familiar with theology on both sides of the Atlantic, has herself revised these for the English-language edition.

This important work by one of the most significant New Testament scholars of the modern period, now available in English for the first time, explores the significance of Christian apocalyptic for the church in times of conflict and crisis. Engaging with global social and political realities that are still very much with us, Ernst Käsemann offers a theological indictment of global white supremacy, capitalism, and militarism and passionately articulates an apocalyptic theology of liberation. The book includes a foreword by James H. Cone and an introduction by Ry O. Siggelkow.

Even in the Church, justice for some is justice for none.

Written from one amateur to another Stephen Morrison hopes to introduce readers to Barth's thought without confusing theological jargon. By focusing on the eight major ideas of Barth's thought, the author provides readers with a helpful introduction to one of the greatest minds in modern theology.

No Longer Bound is about the intersection of reading comprehension and interpretation that leads to the development of a powerful and transformative sermon. Reading facilitates the interpretive process, which is the essence of any sermon. The sermon is an interpretation of an interpretation and as such presents itself as a new gospel message. The ability to write and preach a sermon is an exercise in freedom. The book is grounded in a narrative theological form that begins with the author's experience and filters that experience through the lens of hermeneutic philosophy and theology. Reading and preaching constitute the thread that runs throughout the book. The book suggests that the sermon is the philosophic theology of Black practical religion inasmuch as the Black church is central to religion and culture. This is a fresh and new understanding of homiletics, philosophical theology, and interpretation theory that is intended to produce better preachers and more powerful and life-changing sermons by all who endeavor to preach.