Speculations on Black Life

Darrell Jones is the son of William R. Jones, and Associate Professor in the Department of Dance at Columbia College, USA, where he specializes in contemporary dance technique, improvisation, and movement for actors.Monifa Love is Associate Dean at Bowie State University, USA. Having worked with William R. Jones at Florida State, she is an expert on Jones’ philosophy of religion and theories of race. Anthony B. Pinn is Agnes Cullen Arnold Distinguished Professor of Humanities, Professor of Religious Studies, and Director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) at Rice University, USA.

This important text, Speculations on Black Life: The Collected Writings of Willam R. Jones, is a major work of memory which keeps alive the philosophical contribution of William R. Jones to the study of Black religion and culture and Black liberation theology ... a testament to relentless, unromantic, and committed philosophical, religious, and cultural criticism.

• Foreword. Peter Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA Introduction Monifa Love, Bowie State University, USAPart I. (Black) Humanism 1. Black Power and Unitarianism: A Personal View [1967] 2. Theism and Religious Humanism: The Chasm Narrows [1975] 3. The Concept of Functional Authority in Religious Humanism [1978] 4. The Case for Black Humanism [1978]5. Religious Humanism: Its Problems and Prospects in Black Religion and Culture [1979]6. Toward a UU Concept of Authority [1979] 7. Is Faith in God Necessary for a Just Society? [1987]8. Oppression, Race, and Humanism (Skinner House Volume) [1992] Part II. Theology and Philosophy 9. Theodicy and Methodology in Black Theology: A Critique of Washington, Cone and Cleage [1971] 10. Reconciliation and Liberation in Black Theology [1972]11. Toward an Interim Assessment of Black Theology [1972] 12. Theodicy: The Controlling Category for Black Theology [1973] 13. Crisis in Philosophy: The Black Presence [1973]14. Toward a Black Theology [1974] 15. Theological Response: The Church and Urban Policy [1978]16. Toward a Humanist Framework for Black Theology, in Black Theology II [1978]17. The Legitimacy and Necessity of Black Philosophy [1978] 18. Liberation Strategies in Black Theology: Mao, Martin, or Malcolm? [1983] 19. The Religious Legitimation of Counterviolence: Insights from Latin American Liberation Theology [1987] 20. Purpose and Method in Liberation Theology: Implications for an Interim Assessment [1987] 21. Coping with the Four R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic, and Racism: Insights from Liberation Theology [1987] 22. Process Theology: Guardian of the Oppressor or Goad to the Oppressed: An Interim Assessment [1989] Part III. The Politics of Race 23. Power and Anti-Power [1977] 24. Towards a Norm for Assessing the Christianization of Africa [1981]25. Moral Decision-Making in the Post-Modern World: Implications for Unitarian-Universalist Religious Education [1985] 26. Religion as Legitimator and Liberator: Insights from the Underclass for Public Policy [1987] 27. Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Social Reality in America [1988] 28. Hypocrisy, Bibliogracy, and Democracy [1993] 29. The Disguise of Discrimination [1995] 30. Towards a New Paradigm for Uncovering Neo-racism in American Institutions [2003] Part IV. Critical Reflection on Jones’ Writings Essay One. Anthony Pinn, Rice University, USAEssay Two. Jamil Drake, Florida State University, USAEssay Three. Jawole Zollar, MacArthur award-winning dance choreographerEssay Four. Brittany O’Neal, Lehman College, USAAfterword. Darrell Jones, Columbia College, Chicago, USABibliographyIndex