Black theology of liberation interweaves three related experiences. “Theology” signifies the long tradition of the various forms of Christianity beginning with the life of Jesus in, what we today call, northeast Africa or west Asia. “Liberation” designates the specific mission of Jesus the Anointed One on earth; that is to say, liberation of oppressed communities to attain power and wealth. And “black” means the multiple manifestations of black people's socially constructed worldviews, aesthetics, and identities. In brief, black theology of liberation answers the question: how does Jesus' Gospel of liberation throughout the Christian tradition reveal itself in black culture? Ultimately, arising out of the particularity of the black experience, the goal is to help craft healthy communities and healthy individuals throughout the world.

Rooted in the Christian tradition, following the path of Jesus, and affirming black culture, black theology of liberation derives from both modern and contemporary contexts.

THE MODERN CONTEXT

By “modern context” we mean the historic encounter between European missionaries, merchants, and military, on the one hand, and the indigenous family structures of the darker-skinned communities of the globe (i.e., the greater part of the world), on the other. Bold European explorations made contact with what would later become Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands. Depicting these diverse regions as qualitatively different, Europe then forged itself into a normative cartography called “Europe.” The modern context solidified many European nation-states while colonizing, removing wealth from, and stifling the cultural growth of the rest of the world.

In the United States of North America, there are 300 million (legal) citizens. Forty million are people of African descent whose ancestors were forced by violence to come, in August 1619, as private property to Jamestown, Virginia—an English-speaking British colony founded in 1607 in North America. Among black North Americans or African Americans, black Christianity (Protestant and Roman Catholic) is the largest religious expression. Black women make up 70 to 80 percent of African American churches. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of black people relate to the church—through membership, by accepting social services of churches, or by burying family members in churches.

As a second generation black American theologian, this essay explores the experience of worship in African (North) American churches. The aim is to broaden the research areas of black theology by looking at one of the most intimate and vulnerable spaces and times of everyday blacks in the USA—the process of worship.

In Psalm 100 we find: “Shout praises to the Lord, everyone on this earth. Be joyful and sing as you come in to worship the Lord!” (verses 1–2) and “Be thankful and praise the Lord as you enter [God's] temple. The Lord is good! [God's] love and faithfulness will last forever” (verses 4–5).