Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Creation Of The Devil And The End Of The White Man’S Rule: The Theological Influence Of The Nation Of Islam On Early Black Theology, Marjorie Corbman Ph.D.

Faculty Works: TRS (2010-2022)

This article examines the emergence of the Black Theology movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the context of the religiously diverse milieu of Black political movements during the same period. In particular, the theology of the Nation of Islam was widely understood by contemporary commentators as a major source of the confrontational rhetoric and tactics of the Black Power movement. Drawing upon the writings of the radical Black nationalist minister Albert B. Cleage, Jr., this article examines the importance of what Cleage termed the Nation of Islam’s “Black cultural mythology” in providing the possibility of a break …