INTRODUCTION

In order to talk about God in black theology, one must understand that black theologians are not a homogeneous group. There is diversity in black theology just as there is diversity in white or any other form of theology. Before the discussion begins, two preliminary questions must be answered. The first is, “Which major phase of black theology are we talking about?” When one speaks of black theology, it is essential to establish from the outset whether one is referring to historical, homegrown, unsystematic black theology that existed prior to the 1960s black power movement, or to the contemporary, academic, systematic black theology that emerged in response to it. Although these two phases are integrally related, they represent two distinct approaches to the theological task. Historical black theology has often been an instinctive, unconscious, oral and written theology that emerged from ordinary, unlettered black people struggling to survive the multifaceted onslaught of a racist and oppressive environment. Contemporary black theology, on the other hand, has tended to be an intentional, intellectual, written theology that began among an ecumenical group of black clergy and was soon appropriated and further developed, primarily, by black theological scholars. Although there is no way to sharply separate contemporary black theology from the historical black theology on which it is based, this discussion will focus on the early stages of the former as a point of departure in considering the doctrine of God according to black theology.