A Survey and Critique of James Cone’s Early Black Christology

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In order to avert a loss of relevancy to African-Americans, Adventists may want to consult the already established Black Christology of Black Theology and Black Liberation Theology as a guide to recontextualizing Adventism for an African-American context. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether Black Christology is compatible with Adventist Christology, highlighting points of agreement and disagreement. The methodology employed was a comparative study between James Cone’s Black Christology in his early works and current Adventist Christology. The results of the study found that though there are some concerns about Black Theology in general, due to its employment of historical-critical methodologies of exegesis, the main components of Cone’s early Christology are compatible with Adventism with significant areas of overlap, including the need for a contextualized Christology, confidence in the scriptural record of the historical Christ, Christological warfare (Cosmic Conflict) notions, and a basic agreement over the significance of the works of Christ. Based on Cone’s early works, this study found no compelling reason to preclude the pursuit of an authentically Adventist version of Black Christology that is biblically robust, committed to the historical-grammatical method of exegesis, and culturally relevant to the African-American community.