Chapter 1 - Defending Black Theology from Homogeneity

Summary

This book is a collection of themed essays. It has been undertaken by an embodied, self-conscious individual who is alive to the fact that as a subject in history, his life has been informed by the ebbs and flows of historical processes that have shaped his own existence and those of many others. I do not write, think, love, sometimes hate or simply exist in a vacuum. So who is the “I” at the centre of this work, which is attempting to work against the grain?

These essays are linked in their attempt to outline a new vision for a liberative model of Christianity built upon the insights of Black theology. The various pieces offer a series of vignettes for the promulgation of Black theology.

The work has emerged from the development of my eclectic teaching and workshop programmes (principally in theological education and local church contexts), where I have continued in my pioneering work of linking Black theological content with transformative pedagogy. The use of experiential models of learning, coupled with my developing thinking around Black theology, has led to a growing body of reflections that has been used to raise the critical consciousness of participants within formal and informal learning environments.

Locating Myself

As a contextual theologian I am always wary of the people who do not locate either themselves or their work within any particular social or cultural milieu when they begin to explicate their ideas. I shall not make that elemental mistake.