Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ
Ten years ago, in an article for The Christian Century, theologian Jonathan Tran heralded the work of three black theologians J. Kameron Carter, Willie J. Jennings, and Brian Bantum as inaugurating a “new black theology.” According to Tran, these three thinkers represented “ a major theological shif...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Columbia University Libraries
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Black Theology Papers Project |
| Online Access: | https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/btpp/article/view/12517 |
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| _version_ | 1832585113749159936 |
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| author | Nathaniel Jung-Chul Lee |
| author_facet | Nathaniel Jung-Chul Lee |
| author_sort | Nathaniel Jung-Chul Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ten years ago, in an article for The Christian Century, theologian Jonathan Tran heralded
the work of three black theologians J. Kameron Carter, Willie J. Jennings, and Brian Bantum
as inaugurating a “new black theology.” According to Tran, these three thinkers represented “ a
major theological shift that [would] if taken as seriously as it deserve[d] change the face
not only of black theol ogy but theology as a whole.” Now that ten years have passed, this
paper asks: Has it? And arguing that it has not, I offer reflections on why it has not. At the
center of my argument will be a critique of the way Carter and Bantum offered their revised
un derstanding of racial identity and hybridity by reimagining the identity Jesus through
mulatto/a bodies and persons. This, I will claim, is a dead end. It is a project that fails to
do the very thing it sets out to do, and ultimately, collapses in on itsel f. My aim in making
this critique is less refutation and more redirection. More specifically, I will hope to resolve
some of the problematic impulses in their appeal to mulatto identity, and in so doing, clear
the way for a new direction in Black Theology.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0efb2a5115eb4327a01c49ce0151983f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2641-2799 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Columbia University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Black Theology Papers Project |
| spelling | doaj-art-0efb2a5115eb4327a01c49ce0151983f2025-01-26T20:32:24ZengColumbia University LibrariesBlack Theology Papers Project2641-27992023-11-0191Mulatto Bodies and the Body of ChristNathaniel Jung-Chul LeeTen years ago, in an article for The Christian Century, theologian Jonathan Tran heralded the work of three black theologians J. Kameron Carter, Willie J. Jennings, and Brian Bantum as inaugurating a “new black theology.” According to Tran, these three thinkers represented “ a major theological shift that [would] if taken as seriously as it deserve[d] change the face not only of black theol ogy but theology as a whole.” Now that ten years have passed, this paper asks: Has it? And arguing that it has not, I offer reflections on why it has not. At the center of my argument will be a critique of the way Carter and Bantum offered their revised un derstanding of racial identity and hybridity by reimagining the identity Jesus through mulatto/a bodies and persons. This, I will claim, is a dead end. It is a project that fails to do the very thing it sets out to do, and ultimately, collapses in on itsel f. My aim in making this critique is less refutation and more redirection. More specifically, I will hope to resolve some of the problematic impulses in their appeal to mulatto identity, and in so doing, clear the way for a new direction in Black Theology. https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/btpp/article/view/12517 |
| spellingShingle | Nathaniel Jung-Chul Lee Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ Black Theology Papers Project |
| title | Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ |
| title_full | Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ |
| title_fullStr | Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ |
| title_short | Mulatto Bodies and the Body of Christ |
| title_sort | mulatto bodies and the body of christ |
| url | https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/btpp/article/view/12517 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nathanieljungchullee mulattobodiesandthebodyofchrist |