Communio viatorum is a theological journal from Central European perspectives founded in 1958 by J. L. Hromádka and J. B. Souček, published by the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague three times a year.
Communio Viatorum seeks to promote research and scholarly debate in all theological disciplines. Since its foundation special attention has been paid to both biblical studies and Czech Protestant history. The journal is also interested in articles that reflect new accents within the field of theology as well as relevant challenges from neighbouring disciplines, developments in the Church worldwide as well as new moves within society. It seeks to promote an ongoing process of theological debate from a specific Central European Protestant background, but open to authors from all around the world and all denominations who wish to engage in such a conversation.
As of 2024, the journal Communio Viatorum has transitioned to an open-access publication, issued by Charles University Karolinum Press.
Articles published here are indexed in the ATLA Religion Database® and are included in the full-text ATLASerials® (ATLAS®) collection. They are also indexed and abstracted in the Web of Science – Arts and Humanities Citation Index® of Clarivate Analytics, in Scopus, in CEEOL, and in ERIH PLUS.
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COMMUNIO VIATORUM, Vol 67 No 3 (2025), 231–257
ArticleTraces of a Theology of the Cross in James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power
Brach S. Jennings
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/30296374.2026.3
published online: 14. 04. 2026
abstract
Despite several scholars describing James Cone’s final book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree as his theology of the cross, the possible presence of this theme in Cone’s first book, Black Theology and Black Power, has not been explored. Therefore, this article examines Cone’s first book for traces of the theology of the cross. The article investigates Cone’s creative synthesis of black theology and the Black Power movement, Cone’s early Christology, his collective-political and eschatological expansion of the “happy exchange,” his references to texts from the early Martin Luther, and his re-interpretation of the Pauline-Lutheran themes of “neighbor love” and “new creation” for following Jesus Christ in the ghetto. By so doing, the article claims that Cone’s theology up to 1975 contributed to the ongoing tradition of the theology of the cross, and that mystical-sapiential and prophetic theology can be connected through Cone’s early theology for a contemporary Lutheran theology of the cross.
keywords: James Cone; Martin Luther; Theology of the Cross; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Malcolm X
Traces of a Theology of the Cross in James H. Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0010-3713
E-ISSN: 3029-6374
