James H. Cone Quote
People reject the cross because it contradicts historical values and expectations—just as Peter challenged Jesus for saying, The Son of Man must suffer: Far be it from You; this shall not happen to You. But Jesus rebuked Peter: Get behind me, Satan! (Mt 16:21; Mk 8:31, 33). In the course of a few moments, Peter went from being the mouthpiece of God to a tool of Satan, because he could not connect vicarious suffering with God’s revelation. Suffering and death were not supposed to happen to the Messiah. He was expected to triumph over evil and not be defeated by it. How could God’s revelation be found connected with the the worst of deaths, the vilest death, a criminal’s death on the tree of shame?[15] Like the lynching tree in America, the cross in the time of Jesus was the most barbaric form of execution of the utmost cruelty, the absolute opposite of human value systems. It turned reason upside down. In his sermon-lecture The Transvaluation of Values in Beyond Tragedy, Niebuhr turns to Paul to express what it meant to see the world from a transcendent, divine point of view.
People reject the cross because it contradicts historical values and expectations—just as Peter challenged Jesus for saying, The Son of Man must suffer: Far be it from You; this shall not happen to You. But Jesus rebuked Peter: Get behind me, Satan! (Mt 16:21; Mk 8:31, 33). In the course of a few moments, Peter went from being the mouthpiece of God to a tool of Satan, because he could not connect vicarious suffering with God’s revelation. Suffering and death were not supposed to happen to the Messiah. He was expected to triumph over evil and not be defeated by it. How could God’s revelation be found connected with the the worst of deaths, the vilest death, a criminal’s death on the tree of shame?[15] Like the lynching tree in America, the cross in the time of Jesus was the most barbaric form of execution of the utmost cruelty, the absolute opposite of human value systems. It turned reason upside down. In his sermon-lecture The Transvaluation of Values in Beyond Tragedy, Niebuhr turns to Paul to express what it meant to see the world from a transcendent, divine point of view.
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About James H. Cone
Cone's work was influential from the time of the book's publication and his work remains so today. His work has been both used and critiqued inside and outside the African-American theological community. He was the Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Columbia University-affiliated Union Theological Seminary until his death.