A history of lynching . He devoted a chapter to the history and horrifying reality of lynching in the South, another chapter to the theology of Richard Niebuhr, and a third to the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The cross stands as the universal symbol of Christian faith whereas the lynching tree points to the oppression of blacks. Cone succeeds in giving voice to his people's suffering, fear, and stress of living with the constant threat of being strung up to a tree and tortured to death by a throng of angry racists.
‘This money fo’ my chil’ren now,’ the black man screamed, fighting back. "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree." (Geez Magazine | 1950 Trumbull Ave. | Detroit, MI, USA | 48216 | (585)-880-9555 While the lynching tree symbolized white power and black death, the cross symbolizes divine power and black life, … Along the way, readers will also encounter fun sidebars on his tree of muscle cars, his Acts 10:39 The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. As a result, it is an exquisite experiment with truth.Interpretations breed implications. Martin Luther King Jr.’s father “Daddy King” told his son about witnessing the lynching of a Black man by a group of white men for “taking their jobs”: “It was payday and they tried to take his money. If this comparison angers some, we begin to understand what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 1:23 when he said that the cross was a stumbling block to Jews.
This story reminded me of Pastor Eric Mason words in Cone’s reflection on the role of the cross in the theology of the Black Church was particularly helpful. 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. 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 … While Black folks are catching hell on earth, white Christians counterfeit the cross by turning it into a VIP pass to heaven.Cone animates this work with biblical scholarship, theological engagement, and African-American history, but the glue that binds it all together is his own experience in both the South and the seminary – both segregated. He excoriates white Christian pastors and professors for their failure to connect the death of Jesus to the history of lynchings of Black Americans. “The cross and the lynching tree,” Cone wrote, “interpret each other.” The cross needs the lynching tree to remind us of the reality of suffering.