James Cone’s Liberative Pedagogy

Main Article Content

Jason Wyman

Abstract

James Cone is known primarily as the founder of Black liberation theology. Yet for those who were his students, his teaching was equally as powerful. Cone managed to mentor people, create dialogue, and foster collaboration, all around the common collective task of seeking justice and liberation through theological study and construction. These things made Cone such an effective teacher. His work existed on a continuum, in which the liberation of Black people, of all the oppressed, was a non-negotiable baseline. While he used “traditional” methods, primarily lecture and seminar formats, the purpose behind his teaching wasn’t traditional at all. And as a result, he has put in place a network of clergy, academics, and of many other vocations, who in one way or another are promulgating that commitment to liberation and justice quite literally throughout the world. This is one of several short essays presented by recent students at a public forum at Union Theological Seminary after his death in 2018.


 

Article Details

Section
"Small Teaching" Using James Lang
Author Biography

Jason Wyman, Manhattan College

Jason Wyman received his PhD from Union Theological Seminary. His first book, Constructing Constructive Theology: An Introductory Sketch, looks at the history and method of constructive theology as a coherent tradition. He has also published articles in Black Theology: An International Journal and Theology Today. Wyman teaches classes on theology, social ethics, and religion in New York.