Race, Theology, and IR: Thinking with Black Liberation Theologian James H. Cone

Abstract

This article introduces the work of black liberation theologian James H. Cone into the mutual silence between the study of race and the study of Christian theology in IR. Despite the theological roots of the colonial-modern idea of race, these areas of study in IR have mostly been approached separately. Cone’s thought responds to the complicity of white supremacy and Christianity, whilst theorising a theology of black liberation. It is thus witness and testament to the redemptive potential of a theological frame, inviting us to think beyond secular reason. Cone’s thought raises important theological questions about universality, a central stake for IR discussions of Christian theology. This article identifies supersessionism, the idea that Christianity supersedes both Judaism, and any particularity (as a potentially universal salvific community), as a key notion in the enlightenment secularisation of theological thought, and the development of a racialised colonial modernity that modelled itself in part on Christianity’s longstanding anti-Semitism. This article opens an engagement with Cone’s work for discussions of both Christian theology and race in IR, pointing to the innermost doctrines of Christianity as a site of tension at which race thinking and Christianity are connected, and at which they might be de-linked. Race, théologie et relations internationales : penser avec le théologien de la libération des Noirs James H. Cone