Blackology: The Theological Dexterity of Blackness

In "Blackology: The Theological Dexterity of Blackness," authors Yoel Omowale and Jeff Hood deliver a groundbreaking exploration that reimagines theology through the lens of Blackness as the primordial essence of existence and divinity. Drawing on metaphors of jazz improvisation and the nurturing darkness of the womb, this provocative work challenges traditional Western Protestant theology's disembodied abstractions and its prejudices against the Black body. Instead, it posits Blackness not merely as a cultural or racial identity, but as the ground of all being—the creative force through which life, light, and meaning emerge.

Structured as a systematic yet innovative theology, the book delves into key doctrines: the attributes of Blackness as sustaining and incubating reality; a reenvisioned Trinity of Blackness; dialogues within this Black Trinity; the transformative Black Pentecost; and an eschatology centered on liberation. Accompanied by powerful essays addressing real-world issues like the Ferguson uprising, the seduction of whiteness into idolatry, Babel's divisions, the Fall as "soot and stench," and the theological compromise of white Christians, "Blackology" confronts white supremacy in religious imagery and practice—famously rejecting depictions of a "white Jesus" as symbols of exclusion.

Dedicated to the authors' children, that they might embrace their own brilliant shades of Black, this book invites readers from all backgrounds—religious or not—to improvise new meanings in their quest for complex subjectivity and fuller life. Bold, unapologetic, and intellectually dexterous, "Blackology" is essential reading for those engaged in black theology, liberation movements, anti-racism, and the deconstruction of oppressive spiritual paradigms. It urges us to see Blackness not as absence, but as the sacred source of all potentiality.

a publication of New Theology School Press