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Black Consciousness and the Black Church: A Historical-Theological Interpretation

Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas, Union Theological Seminary, New York

Black consciousness as expressed in Black Power is the most significant reality of the black community. Though the phrases "Black Power" and "black consciousness" are rela tively new, the reality that they symbolize is rooted in the past. Black consciousness is the black community focusing on its blackness in order that black people may know not only why they are oppressed, but also what they must do about that op pression. Because there always have been black people who have resisted the white definitions of blackness, it is appropriate to say that black consciousness is as old as black slavery. It is not possible to enslave a people because they are black and ex pect them not to be aware of their blackness as the means of liberation. It is Black Power's emphasis on liberation that makes it unquestionably a manifestation of God's work in America. The Christian Gospel is a gospel of liberation. The pre—Civil War black churches recognized this, and that was why they refused to accept an interpretation of Christianity that was unrelated to civil freedom. Unfortunately, the post— Civil War black churches forgot about this emphasis and began to identify religion with piety. But the rise of Black Theology in the black churches is a renewal of the pre—Civil War empha sis. It is not certain whether the major black denominations will respond positively by reordering their structures in the light of Black Power. What is certain is the black commu nity's awareness of its blackness as the only tool for liberation. And unless the black churches redefine their existence in the light of the fathers who fought, risking death, to end slavery, the judgment of God will descend upon it in the persons of those who affirm with Brother Eldridge Cleaver: "We shall have our manhood. We shall have it or the earth will be leveled by our attempts to gain it."

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