Ebook
In Black Lives Matter and The Image of God: A Theo-Anthropological Study, the author argues that "God" mirrors humankind rather than the other way around. “God” for him is made in the image of man. Humankind is not created by “God.” What one means by “God” is thus subjective and informed by one’s context. Consequently, Black lives matter to “God” only if they matter to the theologian. The depth of the matter depends on his or her experience. Hence, this book is memoiristic in discussing systematic loci like “God,” humankind, Christ, and the Trinity. The author concludes that “God’s” future is inseparable from humane values that eschew white supremacy and other modes of self-deification in favor of ethics that cultivate life for all human beings.
Introduction: Black Lives Matter! Faith Seeking Understanding
Part One: Theological Waters
Chapter One: The Image of God Far above the Primal Waters
Chapter Two: “Slaves Obey Your Earthy Masters”: The High Cost of Baptism
Part Two: Protestant
Chapter Three: Descending Jacob’s Ladder with Emmanuel Levinas and Mordecai Kaplan
Chapter Four: We Won’t All Die, But We’ll All Be Changed?
Chapter Five: Those Who Died Young, Pyros, and A Black Professor
Chapter Six: Self-Consciousness and Self-Direction: Dr. King and Theological Liberalism
Part Three: Afro
Chapter Seven: The Lost-Found Tribe of Shabazz: For Josh and Minister Malcolm X
Chapter Eight: Afro-Aesthetics and Moon Dance
Chapter Nine: Africa Addio? (Goodbye, Africa?)
Part Four: Understanding My Faith
Chapter Ten: Mangwanani, Africa! (Good Morning, Africa!)
Conclusion: Trying to be “Larger, Freer, and More Loving”: What “God” Is To Me
Bibliography
About the Author
Josiah Young's Black Lives Matter and the Image of God is a theological tour de force written as a memoir. From the streets of Bushwick to South Africa and the Congo, Young's theo-anthropology provides a rich and illuminating answer to the question of whether Black lives really matter to us and to God. This book will edify anyone who reads it.
Josiah U. Young III is professor of systematic theology at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.