The Doctrine of Humanity, the Humanity of Black Men and the Development of a Black Men’s Theology

By Dr. Zachery Williams


Noted African American theologian Howard Thurman, developed a model of critical self-engagement of the spiritual self, which he called the process by which one listens to the sound of the genuine within. This model of worship and spiritual soul-searching provides a model from which African American men, in all varieties, can develop a specific doctrine of their humanity in relation to the God in whose image they were made. In many ways, Thurman’s model resonates with the writings of Dr. James Evans, Dwight Hopkins, and even Stanley Grenz. Grenz makes an important statement concerning the doctrine of humanity in general in his important work, Theology for the Community of God. In discussing God’s ultimate purpose as establishing community among his creation, he also lays out the significance of an anthropological understanding of Christian belief. Grenz argues that this notion of “Christian anthropology, “or the understanding of the humanity of creation is related to this doctrine of God. It entails the relationship between the creation’s responsibilities to the Creator as well as to co-members of creation. This connection between the doctrine of God and Humanity opens the door for theological community as long as the relationship is maintained. Unfortunately for humanity generally, and African American men specifically, man, because of sin and sinful acts, has fallen and has needed reconciliation in order to re-establish that relationship and community as one with God.


The need for reconciliation still holds true for many black men who are not in the church, who are disproportionately representative of those imprisoned, as well as overwhelmingly involved in dangerous life-styles, ranging from gangs and drug cartels to participation in deviant sexual behaviors with deleterious effects upon themselves, black women, and the black community itself. While many decry the continued uselessness of black men as spiritual beings, I affirm, as an African American Christian man, the belief and hope that African American men can be raised from their deadened states. This calls for atonement much as Minister Louis Farrakhan called for at the 1995 Million Man March. The only difference is that instead of abandoning Christianity in favor of Islam as the true religion of the Black man, I posit that Christianity, taught in a manner that recognizes the humanity of black men and demonstrates their inseparable relationship to God, is the way of truth and light for the community of men of African descent.[1]


In his discussion of Christian anthropology, Grenz offers that human beings deal with an identity crisis that is a consequence of their separation from God, the Creator. In agreeing with Grenz, the human identity problem is primarily “religious in nature.” Grenz formulates three aspects of identity that are useful for this discussion. Acknowledging the belief that we are the creation of God, it also must be understood that as creation we are good creations, and despite our challenges with sin, we have the ever-present possibility of reconciliation because as Grenz states, “we are also the object of God’s redemptive activity.” African American men have had major problems seeing themselves in the image of God and within the framework of God’s plan. Primarily, these understandings of God have been shaped by racism and socialization which has devalued the worth and humanity of Black men. Rebelling against this evident attack on their humanity, many black men have, over the decades of their sojourn in America, internalized and adopted these negative assessments, often with very harmful effects on themselves, black women, and black children in the form of abuse, violence, and intimidation. The idea of who God is has not fully been resolved by Black men in America as a whole and is still in question.[2]
As briefly discussed in the opening of this essay, models of understanding God for African American men will come from, largely, although not solely, other African American men. To address the question of humanity of black men, the lives of countless black men must be examined and mined, so as to look for nuggets of wisdom, which can provide revelation as to the depth of the problem facing them, from their perspective, as well as avenues of redemption in light of a critical engagement with their lives.


Men such as Howard Thurman, Tu Pac Shakur and Malcolm X, who held a definite, and differing religious orientations, offer instructive lessons for contemporary African American Men of all ages. Although the church functions as the predominant framework by which we must examine the religious understanding of God and the human identity problem of Black men, we must not delimit or disassociate that lens from the social location and lived reality out of which it emerges for varieties of black men. The two are inseparable and mutually dependent on one another.


Since there are evidently varieties of black men, there will also be varieties of responses and non-responses to God, located in various arenas. In this sense, the scope of the black religious sphere as well as the arena for salvation, for many black men, will be wherever they are in their encounter, positive or negative, with God. As we know, God can reach and meet his creation in the depths of the earth and valleys of life as God is believed to be omnipresent. If we hold to this time held, belief within the African American Christian context, we must also affirm that African American men can find God in unconventional places.


The church must not be the only venue for redemption, although it is the primary facilitator of that process. To function as the useful facilitator, the church and the community of believers, including redeemed black men, must go beyond the walls of the church, and connect the larger socio-geographic community to the institution that we understand as the black church. Jesus, in his self-sacrificing acts of atonement, including his public ministry, the calling of disciples, as well as his crucifixion experience provide a model for us to contextualize upon our specific socio-cultural landscape.


Many of these redemptive social arenas and forms will include locations that on the surface would be distracting environments, such as gang and drug groups, hip hop culture, and other less valued arenas. For the community of black men, many of those who are lost and separated from God, an appreciation of their place and social location as well as their struggle is the first step in their redemption. No experience by black men can be undervalued or ignored. God’s approach towards us does not privilege any experience over the other, although we as humans do and certainly society does. However, despite this latter fact, we must adopt the position of God in relating to one another. While we can offer models of Christian understandings such as those considered less radical and more conventional, we must not ignore the reality that God works through humans to bring redemption to creation, and often in vessels and contexts considered foolish by many. It must be added that many who devalue certain experiences of other men, have either forgotten or decontextualized their redemptive conversion experience or those of the type who they appropriate. For instance, Howard Thurman was, and still is often misunderstood in many Christian circles, because of his innovative religious worship styles. Martin Luther King Jr. was challenged on his public stance against the war in Vietnam and economic inequality in America.


Furthermore, even Frederick Douglass was dismissed due to another challenge facing black men historically and today: being involved with or married to a white woman. Many other differing experiences of alienation from the community of God abound, having been experienced by Black men, popular and unknown, but no less real and relevant. Regardless of the level and reason why black men are actually separated from God, it is the responsibility of all members of the community to participate actively in the redemptive process of others. In that process, many, will also find greater levels of redemption for themselves as well. This is true as the ongoing mental, physical, and spiritual burden or racism, sexism, and men’s cultural and religious socialization daily challenge Black men in any effort to understand God from their experience as well as try to understand their own humanity in light of who they believe themselves to be in relationship to God and others in the community.


The struggle of African American Men to define their humanity in the context of an oppressive environment, bent on their destruction, has played itself out in various ways. One of the major ways is through the assertion of the notion of freedom, a connected freedom that linked the individual self, the realities and experiences of all black men, and all black people. Two ways that many black men religious leaders sought to develop and preserve was through the methods of integration and separatism. In the context of those strategies, black men found vehicles through which to assert their humanity as men, in ways that also sought to promote the freedom of black people everywhere.


James Evans in his work, We Have Been Believers: An African American Systematic Theology, discusses the notion of the doctrine of humanity as related to the African American experience of struggle. Evans asserts that, in the context of the African American experience, one cannot talk about the existence of an individual reality of humanity without discussing the related evolution and development of the entire community’s humanity, In this sense, the Afrocentric philosophical notion, “I Am because We are,” appropriately applies to an understanding of the embattled black experience, as we also understand that the humanity of various black communities, as a whole, has been formed and shaped through the formation of the individual in the context of community and struggle.


Correspondingly, the individual identity of black people in general and black men in particular, in the context of America, has been deeply influenced and shaped by the collective understandings of humanity by communities of black men as well as the larger black community itself. There has been and continues to be a symbiotic relationship between the individual black self and the communal black. Theologian, John S. Mbiti, although a critic of Black Theology, offers an interesting assessment of the doctrine of humanity with respect to the African experience, one that is applicable to the Diaspora African in North America. Mbiti writes:


What then is the individual and where is his [or her] place in the community? In
traditional life, the individual does not and cannot exist alone except corporately. He
owes his existence to other people, including those of past generations and his
contemporaries. He is simply part of the whole. The community must therefore
make, create or produce the individual, for the individual depends on the corporate
group.[3]


In this context, one can also examine the particular understandings of self of black men, to get a handle on the manner in which they developed modes and models of manhood, in a foreign environment that sought to destroy such agency. In addition, from a proper application of Mbiti’s quote to the African American experience, one can arrive at a proper understanding of the importance of community and brotherhood among black men in America. Such an understanding should lead one to conclude that a critical black men’s theology must be undertaken, one that is reflective of the dialectic between the individual humanity of black men and the tradition or communal humanity that comes out of the imagined and real black experience. Undoubtedly, black men in America have always, whether they recognized it or not, evolved out of a tradition of men and women who have passed down a tradition of understandings of black men’s humanity. Particularly, for the Christian church, this tradition must be revisited and reinterpreted so as to arrive at a clear and useful black men’s theology of practice for the “fishers of men.”[4]


Specifically, Riggins Earl, Jr. in his chapter, “Apologists and Ideologues of Black Manhood and Brotherhood,” seeks to use various typologies of black men religious intellectuals, to arrive at an understanding of what black manhood represents. He presents four typologies to depicting what he believes to be various responses of black men, attempting to define their humanity in the context of struggle. First, he asserts the notion of the “generic man” model of black manhood, as represented by Frederick Douglass, a type that espoused generic qualities of manhood such as notions of color-blindness, manly character, and the universality of humanity. Earl’s sees his second category, that of the utility man, best evidenced by the example of Booker T. Washington whom he credited with being able to promote useful and industrious character traits as self-dignity, love, and compromise as being indicative of a “representative man.” Thirdly, W.E. B. Du Bois represents “the dialectic self-conscious man,” who is critically aware of his own “self-conscious manhood,” desiring to merge his double self into a new and better man, and able to intentionally articulate black strivings by being a co-worker with God in his kingdom on earth.


Lastly, Marcus Garvey, attains the label of “self-confident man,” who sought to instill a type of manhood in black men that promoted a cultural and nationalist self-reliance and an understanding of the meaning of brotherhood, through the vehicle of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Garvey, espousing a strong black manhood, with evident Christian overtones, served as a model for the theological foundation of the Nation of Islam and its most prized member, Malcolm Little, whose father was a Garveyite himself. Furthermore, Earl seeks to develop the concept of “Salutatory Brothers of New Paradigms,” focusing on the example and theological insights of Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, whereby he examines the models of manhood of both figures through priestly and prophetic lenses. Overall, he develops the idea that an examination of these types will illicit a more informed standpoint from which to determine the struggles of individual black men by which to understand themselves in relation to God, creation, and redemption. [5]


James Cone, in his book, Malcolm, Martin and America, discusses in the introduction, two distinct, yet related traditions of black men religious intellectuals who sought to achieve equality for black people. One tradition promoted equality through the notion of integration and the other tradition, asserted the notion of separatism. The point where Cone advances the argument beyond Earl is that the former illicits a type of Du Boisian double consciousness among many adherents of both the integrationist and nationalist traditions, one that affirms the idea of dual existence of both traditions, that are dependent on one another and dovetail over time, as influenced by the cultural and political context of the times as well as their social location. This is most evident as one analyzes, for instance, the manner in which both the integrationism of both Martin Luther King Jr., and Frederick Douglass, becomes, towards the end of their lives, more radicalized and hence, sympathetic to aspects of the nationalist/separatist argument. Conversely, the theological and political view of such black men religious intellectuals as Malcolm X and Martin Delany, at the end of their lives, evidences a shift in radical views more towards the center, at least to the point where they are open to a more inclusive separatism, and possibly exhibit openness to a radical integrationism. As one connects, Evans, Cone, and Earl, one sees that there is an ideal of brotherhood, whether overt of subtle, that has asserted an idea of humanity for black men which resonates to black men as a community and even to a larger African American community, beyond the individual self. [6]


In conclusion, any model for the construction of the doctrine of humanity of black men must be contextual in that “context influences meaning,” as Amy-Jill Levine argues for women. Furthermore, all contexts where black men reside, must be equally valued and examined. Functioning in community, and utilizing both past and present lives and models to create an ever evolving and multi-dimensional experiences should be the goal of a relevant 21st century black theology. The works of Evans, Cone, and Earl, as well as others, provide useful material to redeem our humanity as we as black men seek to simultaneously enter in with God in the redemptive process of reconciliation with the Father/Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. This model and text is ever-evolving and in dialogue with many aspects of itself. In this way, the schizophrenia and identity crises or varieties of double and multiple consciousness are turned on their heads and will not emerge unchanged. The challenge is that as we engage in the connected theological and practical tasks of redemption and reconciliation of the minds, bodies, and souls of black men, we yield to God and see ourselves as a composite of not only the sum of our experiences but also as the composite of who God is, was, and will always be. We are not God, and have never been, even in our various messianic moments, but we do share aspects of God’s character and personality, as we function as in community with our Creator in the redemption of our communities and that of the world.


In order to fully articulate and manifest the Doctrine of Humanity of Black Men, a relevant Black Men’s Theology must be developed. This theology has a theoretical and theological component on the one hand, which articulate what it is and what persons have contributed to its construction. On the other hand, such a doctrine and theology must develop a parallel and contextual model of praxis. I have discussed aspects that can begin to contribute to the development of the theoretical component and will add few additional thoughts regarding that aspect. However the majority of the remainder of the paper will deal with the assertion of a beginning praxis model, based on different elements.


J. Deotis Roberts offers an interesting beginning statement on a doctrine of humanity for black men, and, process, a Black Men’s Theology. He argues:


A doctrine of man in black theology should begin with the human condition and
aim at liberation of through wholeness. Wholeness is related to a total view of man
as body, soul, and spirit. Theologies of the body are likely to be concerned with the
carnal man and man’s place in nature. Theologies of revolution aim primarily at the
collective. The approach of black theology must be existential as well as political.[7]


Roberts argues that a narrow examination of the humanity of black men is insufficient and heretofore, has only complicated the continued search by black men for a tangible and affirmative identity. Unless a comprehensive theology can be developed, one that incorporates all the dimensions of the complicated self of black men then the notion of humanity and freedom will continue to elude every black man, regardless of social class or status. Roberts continues and asserts that such a doctrine, and theology must come from black men themselves. Here he alludes to such:


We need an understanding of human nature that can bring to black people, under
the conditions of their existence sanity and wholeness. A perfectly rational
interpretation of man, however, much applauded by white theologians, would be
‘dry bones’ for the faith of the black masses if they did not take seriously their life
and death struggle in this society.[8]


In offering explanation of Roberts’ anthropological discussion of the doctrine of humanity, Evans contends that it is “centered on the notion of the collective dimension of human existence.” So, in this regard, black men must define for themselves what a doctrine of their humanity truly represents as well as locating this definition in the context of the varied community of black men and black people.


The discussion by Roberts points us toward a discussion of models for the holistic development of black men. One such model that should be incorporated into the development of a doctrine of black men’s humanity and theology is that of the “Morehouse Man.” Of course, the model itself was exemplified and established from the person and example of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays. Dr. Mays, President of Morehouse College for twenty seven years, in addition to writing numerous books about the Black religious experience, also developed a model of manhood that has stood the test of time. Mays’ model of the Morehouse man takes into account much of Roberts’ understandings and articulations of wholeness. Proof of the effectiveness of such a model can be found in the countless graduates of the College who have gone on to impact the world, including the perceptions of black men. Usage of such as model as well as those offered by the Nation of Islam, Masons, and Fraternities can provide contributing parts, designed to create a multi-level framework that can help bring about reconciliation. The deciding factor that would make this amalgam distinctively Black Christian, and evidence of manhood would be the foundation of the example and gospel of the Black Christ, Jesus.


In an article in The Phylon Quarterly, Edward Jones lays out the five tenets of the Morehouse Mystique as articulated by Mays at the Ninetieth Anniversary Convocation of the College. The first tenet is the “training of the mind to think logically, constructively, and discriminatingly.” Further explaining this tenet, he specifies that the training of the student mind should be undertaken “whether an ordinary or a brilliant one.” Secondly, Mays stated that an emphasis at Morehouse was placed on the development of “men of sound character and integrity: men who are dependable, reliable, trustworthy, honest, true-men who can be trusted to carry responsibility both in private and in public life.” For Mays it was “a dangerous thing” to train a man’s mind without at the same time training him to be good. A third tenet of the Morehouse Mystique examines the significance of community responsibility and depicts a man “who is concerned for the welfare of the community and who participates in the affairs of that community and lends whatever support he can to further the ideals of progress, democratic living, and interracial goodwill. Lastly, the fifth element of the Morehouse Mystique deals with the issue of strong self-esteem, placing “confidence in themselves and confidence in their future.” Such confidence teaches Morehouse men, to this very day, “not to accept the ceiling as the limit but the sky, and that a better tomorrow….must be molded by them.” All in all, this framework and lifestyle has exuded a great degree of humanity and manhood for graduate of Morehouse. For the purposes of this essay, it provides a critical example from which to draw from in re-envisioning a doctrine of humanity and black men’s theology for black men of all backgrounds and experiences. [9]


Evans notes the utility of black spiritual autobiography as relevant for the re-creation of a doctrine of humanity for black men. Using an autobiographical statement of sorts, African theologian Manas Buthelezi offers a useful assessment of the doctrine of humanity as applied to black men. Buthelezi writes:


Man suddenly discovers his humanity in caricature form: he realizes that he is neither what he thought he was nor what he would like to be. Out of this mental and
emotional torture arise a number of existential questions: After all, who am I: What
is the destiny of my being and mode of existence? How can I so live as to overcome
what militates against the realization of my destiny as a human being? This in
essence is the quest for true authentic humanity, For a black man, such as I am, this
issue is loaded with historical accidents which project a peculiar dimension of the
basic quest: Can I realize my authentic humanity in the medium of my blackness? Is
my blackness some fatalistic road block in life within which God has made it
possible for me to be an authentic man?[10]


Buthelezi’s statement offers an interesting perspective from which to examine black spiritual autobiography as contributive to a substantive doctrine of humanity. It allows black men of various identities to examine, question, and probe, from the context of their distinctive social and cultural location, the meaning of who they are as men, and hopefully, discover it in the process. Furthermore, black spiritual autobiography is not relegated to theologians or men of the cloth. For the variety of Black men, there are countless and unique relationships and experiences of the divine and, in essence of one’s humanity. Therefore, each experience must be valued equally within the context of the community. As a community of voices echoing and bouncing off of one another, there will be evident parallels as well as divergencies that will be instructive for each member so long as mutual respect and value can be placed on teach voice. Examples of black men’s spiritual autobiography include notable public figures such as James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Mays, Howard Thurman, Martin L. Kings, Jr. and countless others. In addition to more notable intellectuals, ministers, and activists, other groups must be included into this framework including divergent groups such as the hip hop community, former gang members, black gay men, everyday working class men, as well as other varieties not commonly privileged.


Asian theologian Andrew Sung Park provides the interesting framework of Han, which discusses elements of healing, reflection, and reconciliation, among others, in the context of the Christian doctrine of sin. Han is described as the relational consequence of sin and is exhibited by the spiritual, emotional, and cultural scars in victims by those who have perpetrated some form of oppression. It also discusses the idea of blending different experiences in order to create a more balanced whole. Evidence of this within the experiences of black men in America can be seen in the religious search for meaning by many black men, known and unknown. Everything from sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee holding signs proclaiming: “I Am a Man” to the idea of the idea of the Beloved Community of Mordecai Johnson, Howard Thurman, and Martin King can find common ground with the religious ethos of Garveyism, the Nation of Islam and the Black Hebrew Israelites. In addition, a theology of sexuality as advanced by theologian Kelly Brown Douglass can be interpreted by black gay Christian men and young men of the Hip Hop generation, so as to articulate a relevant theology that voices their specific concerns. Not that a nice and neat unified whole will ever be created. That is not and should not be the goal of unity of reconciliation. The primary motive and driving force should be healing and a desired reconnection with the creator God, in whose image, each and every variety of Black man was made and is being fashioned.



Bibliography

The Amplified Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1987.

Cone, James H. Malcolm, Martin, and America: A Dream of a Nightmare. Maryknoll,
N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1992.

Earl, Riggins, Jr., Dark Salutations: Ritual, God, and Greetings in the African American
Community. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001.

Evans, James H. We Have Been Believers: an African American Systematic Theology.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

Grenz, Stanley J. Theology For the Community of God. Vancouver: Regent College
Publishers, 1994.

Jones, Edward A. “Morehouse College in Business Ninety Years—Building Men,” The
Phylon Quarterly. Vol. 18, No. 3, 1957.

Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970.

Roberts, J. Deotis. A Black Political Theology. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974.

Endnotes

[1] . Stanley J. Grenz. Theology For the Community of God (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 1994). 125.

[2] . Grenz, pp. 125-127.

[3] . John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 119.

[4]. Matthew 4:19. The Amplified Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1987, 1076.



[5] . Riggins R. Earl, Jr., Dark Salutations: Ritual, God, and Greetings in the African American Community (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001), 114-

[6] . James H. Cone. Malcolm, Martin, and America: A Dream or a Nightmare. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis), 1992.
[7] . J. Deotis Roberts, A Black Political Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974), 84.

[8] . Roberts, A Black Political Theology, 90.

[9] . Edward A. Jones, “Morehouse College in Business Ninety Years—Building Men,” The Phylon Quarterly. Vol 18, No. 3, 1957, p. 233.

[10] . Evans, We Have Been Believers: An African American Systematic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 114.