James Cone recounted the support Blacks had from Reinhold Niebuhr, possibly the greatest theologian of the 20th Century. Niebuhr wrote of the plight of the Black American with fair consistency. But Cone is critical of Niebuhr for holding back when it counted.

Niebuhr called of “gradualism, patience, and prudence” in a time when Black leaders in the 1950s were being lynched. Cone is critical because Niebuhr listened to white moderates like William Faulkner (the novelist) and Hodding Carter (a Mississippi journalist) rather than Dr. King. Niebuhr was preaching patience to those under the pressure of Jim Crow while Niebuhr himself did not know that suffering.

This is the challenge I have in my own time. I write on a blog. I repost good Dr. King quotes. But coming face to face with blatant racism today, how would I do? If I needed to feel the heat of being white in constant support of Black causes, would I wilt?

These are the hard questions I need to deal with in my life. I need my friends close, hearing my words, watching my actions, and getting in my business of I am not stepping up.

White theologians do not normally turn to the black experience to learn about theology. But if the lynching tree is America’s cross and if the cross is the heart of the Christian gospel, perhaps Martin LutherKing Jr., who endeavored to “take up his cross, and follow (Jesus)” (Mark 8:34) as did not other theologian in American history, has something to teach America about Jesus’ cross. (The Cross and the Lynching Tree)