Cornel West Critical Essay | Critical Review by Dennis P. McCann

Critical Review by Dennis P. McCann

SOURCE: “Go Tell It On the Mountains,” in Commonweal, December 20, 1985, pp. 708-9.

In the following review, McCann offers a positive assessment of Prophesy Deliverance!

In this brief programmatic sketch Cornel West has produced the most promising Afro-American liberation theology to date. With his theoretical sophistication, his deep roots in Afro-American culture, and above all, his forthrightness in criticizing the intellectual traditions of Marxism and Christianity, West takes his rightful place among the architects of liberation theology, bold innovators like Mary Daly and Juan Luis Segundo. Whether we agree or disagree with their thinking, these religious intellectuals command our respect and admiration for having enlarged our sense of the possibilities and limits defining practical theological discourse.

Each of the chapters in Prophesy Deliverance! breaks new ground for Afro-American revolutionary Christianity in particular and practical theologies in general. Chapter One provides an interpretive framework for Afro-American history. West’s distinctive contribution...
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