Excerpt

Sermons for Subversives is aimed specifically at seven (7) distinct groups of people: 1) Black Theologians and Scholars who remember their initial radical social change focus but need a supportive, if even critical, reminder to stay or rediscover the course; 2) sincere Black Christians who know intuitively that something is abysmally wrong with their religion and feel some serious discontent, but havent found a meaningful way to confront the problem (except superficially, by moving from one church to another); 3) non-Christian spiritual folk of all kinds and types who are looking for answers to questions that Christians are normally loathe to address; 4) radical activists who subscribe to a definite Marxist analysis of political economy, but who are searching for a new and relevant organizing ethos that both embraces novel mechanisms and procedures that break with doctrinaire formulations, and support a materially-anchored spirituality that provides hope and meaning during protracted struggle; 5) young people who are searching for relevant and plausible answers to the real question, Whats the point of living, aside from partying and getting high?, as they are bombarded daily with thousands of trivial sound and video bites urging them to consume and be consumed; 6) old warriors who have fought the tough, groundbreaking battles and have the scars to prove it, but see none but the opportunistic political hustlers and religious pimps following in their train; and, 7) the few and far between radical followers of Jesus who are committed to the revolutionary content of the Gospel and its economic, social and political implications for the tearing down of global capitalism and the building up of Gods kingdom reign on earth as it is in heaven.

In these dark days of civil and religious confusion, every persons thoughts and/or acts against the status quo that challenge Eurocentric global capitalisms norms and notions are both self-liberative and revolutionary in the sense that they lean toward the goal of fundamental personal and societal change. Revolutionary thoughts and actions are those that fundamentally change us so that we can make fundamental societal change in the world.

Western Christianity, in particularand the great world religions, in generalhas played the historical role of prostitute for the convenience of corrupt governments who function almost exclusively for the benefit of the global wealthy elites. Thus, the modern right-wing, conservative Christian theological emphasis on personal rather than collective salvation mirrors global capitalisms emphasis on the illusion of the individual who must make her or his own way through life by dint of his or her own talents, energies and skills.

In such an alienated existence, the group, the community, and even the family, become the market that must be exploited, dominated and controlled by religious institutions owned and operated by the capitalist elites. In exchange for selling out the revolutionary Gospel of Jesus, these corrupt institutions legitimize the spirit-killing, death-dealing norms and values of the wealthy elites by giving them the imprimatur of divine approval and authorship.

But this writer has not so learned Jesus. Rather, Jesus is solemnly understood as Liberator and Lord who most certainly did not die on the cross so that the select few could be wealthy, or own the biggest automotive vehicles, or even be successful as global capitalism and its televangelists count success. Instead, Jesus came to bring Good News to the poor, liberation to the oppressed, and the year of Gods favorthe jubilee when all the debts of the poor are cancelled, all lands and property stolen from them returned, and each person has enough material resources to make a fresh start in life. From the perspective of Black Liberation Theology, such Good News is a prescription for global revolution that must begin here, in the United States of America, the seat of the beast, that has deceived all nations.

Thus, the background writings and sermons in this collection represent a radical, clarion call to those who would be followers of Jesus to finish his liberation ministry. It is argued that anything less than all-out liberatory organizing and agitating work among the poor and oppressed by those who name the Name amounts to counterrevolutionary behavior which only serves the interests of the wealthy elitesthe power bases of our modern day antichrists. In addition, this collection reflects the other sheep theory: the view that those who do liberation ministry without wearing or even believing in a religious label are still part of Gods global plan for the liberation of all oppressed people everywhere.