40008
$23.00
In his controversial 1973 book 'Is God A White Racist?', William R.Jones sharply criticized black theologians for their agnostic approach to black suffering, noting that the doctrine of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God poses very significant problems for a perennially oppressed community. He proposed a "humocentric theism" that denies God's sovereignty over human history and imputes autonomous agency to humans. By rendering humans alone responsible for moral evil, Jones's theology freed blacks to revolt against evil oppression without revolting against God.
Sherman Jackson now places Jones's argument in conversation with the classical schools of Islamic theology. The problem confronting the black community is not simply proving that God exists. The problem, rather, is establishing that God cares. No religious expression that fails to tackle the problem of black suffering can hope to enjoy a durable tenure in the black community. For the Muslim, therefore, it is essential to find both a Quranic/Islamic vindication of theism and a grounding for the legitimate aspects of the protest-oriented agaenda of black religion. That is the task Jackson undertakes in this pathbreaking work, relating Islam's rich intellectual heritage to the challenges of a modern, Western existence.
".....What kind of God allows suffering, and why do some groups seem to suffer more than any divine scale of justice could ever justify? These are the questions tackled by Sherman Jackson in this probing, evocative study of black theodicy revisited through the multiple lens of Islamic theology."
Bruce Lawrence,
Director, Duke Islamic Studies Center
Price: $23.00