15 Books Published by Orbis Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

James Baldwin’s writing offers critiques of religion, culture, and discrimination, and in the witness of his life he holds up hope and the primacy of love despite all the difficulties of the present moment. In this passionate introduction, Garrett presents the life and work of Baldwin in all his writing genres, on themes of equity, justice, and reconciliation.

Garrett followed in Baldwin’s footsteps—from New York City to the American South, from the cafes of St.-Germain in Paris to the mountains of Switzerland, where Baldwin did some of his most important thinking and writing. Garrett consulted critical and cultural studies, as well as archival materials from the recently-inaugurated Baldwin Collection at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Out of this close study of Baldwin’s words and legacy, Garrett invites new readers and longtime lovers of the great Black writer into a thoughtful exploration of his continued relevance.

How do we really know that God cares when Black people are still getting killed? How long do we have to wait for the justice of God? I get it, that Christ is Black, but that doesn’t seem to be helping us right now. These questions from her son prompted theologian Kelly Brown Douglas to undertake this soul-searching reflection. The killing of George Floyd and the ongoing litany of Black victims raised questions about the persistence of white supremacy in this nation, leading her to reflect on how a "white way of knowing" has come to dominate American identity and even to shape the consciousness of Christians. In exploring the message of Confederate monuments and the "Make America Great Again" slogan, she examines the failures of even "good white Christians" and struggles with the hope that "Black Lives Matter," before reaching deep into her own experience and the faith of Black folks to find her way back to Resurrection Hope.

First published in 1970, this book presents a searing indictment of white theology and society, while offering a radical reappraisal of Christianity from the perspective of an oppressed black North American community. Now 20 years later, Cone reviews the evolution of his own thinking, plus black theology in dialogue with feminist theory and third world theologies of liberation.

In this classic work, first published in 1994, Kelly Brown Douglas offers a compelling portrait of who Jesus is for the Black community. Beginning with the early testimonies of the enslaved, through the writings and thought of religious and literary figures, voices from the Civil Rights and Black Power era, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, up through the contemporary work of Black and Womanist theologians, Douglas presents a living tradition that speaks powerfully to the message of our day: Black Lives Matter.

First published in 1969, Black Theology and Black Power provided the first systematic presentation of Black Theology, while also introducing the voice of an African American theologian who would shake the foundations of American theology. Relating the militant struggle for liberation with the gospel message of salvation, James Cone laid out the foundation for an interpretation of Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed that retains its urgency and challenge today.

"As Martin Luther King said, we must learn to live together as human beings, treating each other with dignity and respect, or we will perish together as fools. There is no other choice. I choose life."

James H. Cone is widely recognized as the founder of Black Liberation Theology— a synthesis of the Gospel message embodied by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the spirit of Black pride embodied by Malcolm X. Prompted by the Detroit riots and the death of King, Cone, a young theology professor, was impelled to write his first book, Black Theology and Black Power, followed by A Black Theology of Liberation. With these works he established himself as one of the most prophetic and challenging voices of our time.

In this powerful and passionate memoir— his final work— Cone describes the obstacles he overcame to find his voice, to respond to the signs of the times, and to offer a voice for those— like the parents who raised him in Bearden, Arkansas in the era of lynching and Jim Crow— who had no voice. Recounting lessons learned both from critics and students, and the ongoing challenge of his models King, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin, he describes his efforts to use theology as a tool in the struggle against oppression and for a better world.

Beginning with the “dark wisdom of the slaves,” Shawn Copeland shows how enslaved people found in the story of Jesus both an affirmation of their humanity and a repudiation of a system that held them in bondage. She goes on to explore some of the challenges to human living in a world shaped and directed by white supremacy. And finally, she presses the meaning of solidarity in the concrete circumstances of American life.

These challenging essays reflect her efforts to read the book of the cross, and to grapple with what it might mean “to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus” with those crucified in our time.

The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of African Americans.

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. Acts 10:39

The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and black death, the cross symbolizes divine power and black life God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era.

In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.

Day presents a striking portrayal of poverty, with all its related problems, among black women in this country unemployment, underemployment, isolation, and lack of assets such a car or home ownership. She turns to the black church as a potential agent of social change, indicating ways in which the black church can take up the equivalent of a Poor People s Campaign. She takes on the common stereotypes that castigate poor black women as morally problematic and dependent on the money of good tax-paying citizens, demonstrating their inaccuracy.

A specific concern Day addresses throughout is how to aid black women to develop assets that will prevent long-term poverty and allow them to thrive. In the words of Cornel West, This book is a pioneering and path-blazing work in Christian ethics that combines a sophisticated class-based notion of thriving with an asset-building approach of public policy for prophetic Christian praxis. Keri Day makes Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fanny Lou Hamer smile from the grave!

In these passionate and wide-ranging essays Obery Hendricks offers a challenging engagement with spirituality, economics, politics, contemporary Christianity, and the abuses committed in its name. Among his themes: the gap between the spirituality of the church and the spirituality of Jesus; the ways in which contemporary versions of gospel music sensationalize today s churches into social and political irrelevance; how the economic principles and policies espoused by the religious right betray the most basic principles of the same biblical tradition they claim to hold dear; the domestication of Martin Luther King s message to foster a political complacency that dishonors King s sacrifices. He ends with a stinging rebuke of the religious right s idolatrous patriotism in a radical manifesto for those who would practice the politics of Jesus in the public sphere.

These essays describe the experience of black Catholics since their arrival in North America in the 16th century until the present day. They highlight the difficulties black Catholics faced in their attempts to join churches and religious communities, their participation in the civil rights struggle, and challenges they face today.

This book was inspired by a challenge from one of Douglas’s students: "How could you, a black woman, possibly be a Christian?" Reflection on the historical sins of Christians, particularly the role of white Christians in countenancing the lynching of African Americans, led her to broader questions: What is it about Christianity that could lend itself to racism and its violent abuses? What is it about Christianity that has allowed it to be both a bane and a blessing for black people? Douglas examines the various "distortions" in early Christianity—particularly the influence of platonic dualism, with its denigration of the body, and the alliance with imperial power. She shows how this later helped support white racism, just as it later fed homophobia and other distortions in the black church. Nevertheless, she ends by sharing an inspiring account of her own Christian faith, and why she is still a Christian.

Part One determines why sexuality has become a "taboo" issue for the Black church and community. Douglas examines the function of sexuality in White culture and the denigration and exploitation of Black sexuality through a discussion of White cultural myths, stereotypes, laws and customs concerning Black women and men. Part Two studies how Blacks have responded to sexual myths and stereotypes by retreating into silence on the subject of sexuality. In this section, Douglas discusses the function and role of sexuality in the Black church and community, homophobia/heterosexuality and how Black sexuality is portrayed in Black fictional literature. Finally, she explores the importance of sexuality and sexual discourse to the Christian theological mandate and to Black churches.

A comprehensive and challenging look at the significance of the Bible for blacks, and the importance of blacks in the Bible. Timely … serious and creative.—The Catholic Journal.