For My People 40th Anniversary Edition

“Unless we look honestly at our past, it is unlikely that we shall know what to do in the present for the shaping a creative Black future. “-James H. Cone

Originally published in 1984, James Cone’s For My People remains an important landmark in the development of Black Theology. While tracing the origins of the movement, its relation to the Black Church, its engagement with other liberation theologies from the Global South, and the emergence of Womanist theology, he also offered telling reflections on the path ahead.

Assessing this work, the great scholar C. Eric Lincoln observed: “For My People spares neither kith nor kin, but addresses itself to the whole range of factors in North American religion that make for the traditional black church/white church dichotomy, and the spiritual and social consequences that attend it. For My People is a strong commentary on both the role and the vitality of black theology, as well as on the pervasiveness of the problems that sustain the need for it.”

In a new foreword, Josiah Young, who finished his PhD with Cone at Union Theological Seminary and now teaches at Wesleyan Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, reflects on the significance of this work within the corpus of Cone’s writing, and assesses the ongoing relevance of this work for the life of the Black Church, the ongoing project of Black and Womanist Theology, and the liberating application of the Gospel to our world today.