Prophetic Fragments: Illuminations of the Crisis in American Religion and Culture

by Cornel West

"This collection of writings, drawn from a wide variety of sources, reveals the intellectual depth and breadth of the author. The articles include political commentary, cultural critique, literary analysis, extended book reviews, and even a short story by

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Politics

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Cornel Ronald West is an American scholar and public intellectual. Formerly at Harvard University, West is currently a professor of Religion at Princeton. West says his intellectual contributions draw from such diverse traditions as the African American Baptist Church, Marxism, pragmatism, transcendentalism, and Anton Chekhov.

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Winter in Afro-America
There is an artic chill across the country, especially in those urban centers and rural pockets inhabited by people of Áfrican descent. It is often said that when America sneezes, Afro-America catches a cold, and when America catches a cold, Afro-America catches pneumonia. Even the moderately liberal magazine Black Enterprise (Jan. 1984) concluded in its first annual economic survey that black America is in a state of deep cri-sis; hence, "business as usual" is no longer acceptable.
The crisis in Afro-America is threefold. First, the black community is undergoing profound economic crisis which most visibly takes the form of unprecedented levels of unemployment, new cutbacks and speedups for industrial workers, and persistent career ceilings for professional em-ployees. Second, Afro-Americans are facing a political crisis that demands redefining relations with the Democratic party. Third, black people are experiencing a pervasive spiritual crisis as mutual distrust among blacks intensifies and the incidence of black suicides and homicides rises. In short, Afro-America is at a crossroads.
The economic crisis in Afro-America is an effect of the international crisis of capitalism. This crisis primarily consists of a falling rate of profit for U.S. multinational corporations, an increasing maldistribution of wealth, an expanding centralization of political power, and the consolidation of subtle cultural and repressive legal mechanisms of control.
Under such conditions, class inequality deepens, racist and sexist policies intensify, and interventionist ventures abroad thrive. The Reagan program of reconstituting U.S. capitalism, supported by repressive cultural sensibilities and antidemocratic political restructuring, has one basic thrust: vicious attacks and assaults on the fragile gains of working people and poor people. These attacks and assaults are disproportionately targeted at people of color, especially black women and children.
The political crisis in the black community is manifest in its captivity to the Democratic party. The refusal of black politicians to explore outside the Democratic party new forms of political empowerment has produced paralysis and powerlessness among black voters. Black captivity to the Democratic party results from black captivity to liberalism. The break from prevailing forms of paralysis and powerlessness must begin with a break from liberalism.“

Systemic issues. We’re back to the 90s unconsciously repeating a lot of this, and wealth disparity is far worse. Cornel west gets forgotten as the one of the first leaders of Black Lives Matter and he gets politically Christianized the way that MLK jr did. Not that he’s not a prophetic Christian leader. He’s just not the Christian populist in opposition to some fake proud boys nationalist narrative like you’re trained to think. Basically he gets co-opted by big money for everything he ever did for black folks. It’s not like he hasn’t been trying for years to carry on the tradition, it’s just that media has gotten better at convoluting and squashing movements. Those who don’t know him think he’s overly hopeful about democracy, evidenced by his book “Democracy matters” which clearly hasn’t been actually read. And yet he intellectually questions liberalism effectively. He crossed all his Ts and dotted the Is when he was young. Testing the validity of dialectical materialism and Marxist thought to contemporary problems like he had to in order to be respected. And now that he’s older and wiser we might think he’s aloof. When that couldn’t be further from the truth. This man has worked his ass off for the American people from day one. And he’s an idol worth respecting. Especially right now.


“Niebuhr's defense of the establishment of the state of Israel was passionate and candid. His passion was motivated by a profound and admirable sense of moral outrage at the Holocaust. His candor flowed from his struggle to reconcile his democratic sentiments with Europeanist bias and political realism. Yet this attempt at reconciliation ends in truncating his commitment to nonracial democracy and thereby degrading his political realism to ethnocentric expediency.
For example, in his major reflections on the state of Israel Niebuhr displays exemplary features of Christian realist discourse on the third world: relative ignorance and racist sentiment. In his support of a 1947 (November 21) letter in defense of the idea of partitioning Palestine, he rightly criticized the suppression of the Christian majority by the Arab League in Lebanon yet defended the subordination of the Palestinian majority by the Jewish population in Palestine. In an influential article in 1946, Niebuhr argued that Palestinian Arab opinion was of little weight owing to the failure of a middle class and a "technical and dynamic civi-lization." This failure justified a Jewish imposition upon such backward peoples in order to further modernization. Similarly, in a renowned 1942 piece in The Nation, Niebuhr claimed-uncharacteristic of a liberal-that Jews as a people (not individuals) had rights which entitled them to the land of Palestinian Arabs. Unlike many crude Zionists, Niebuhr did believe that the issue of the interests of Palestinian Arabs warranted attention. Yet in typical Europeanist fashion, he held that these interests were best served by Westernized Jewish rule over Palestinian Arabs. He candidly characterized his position as "imperialistic realism"—a good label for Europeanist paternalist policy toward third world peoples…

In short, Niebuhr's conception of a crucial third world region like the Middle East tended to overlook the claims of self-determination of peoples of color and colonized peoples... The third world was conceived not as diverse places in which peoples attempt to resist and overcome centuries of feudal oppression and years of Western colonialism in a way more radical than that of Western patterns of development, but rather a region for the struggle of U.S. containment of Soviet aggression and influence. It is no accident that the first major critique of Christian realism came from Latin American liberation theologians who stressed this "dark" side of Niebuhr's Europeanist bias.

…My aim here is not to defend a particular kind of social analysis over against that of Niebuhr; rather it is to call attention to the way in which Europeanist bias reflects Niebuhr's views toward the third world.
In conclusion, Niebuhr's exemplary Christian realism emerged, in part, as a liberal response to the new realignment of international powers after the Second World War. Christian realism was forward looking in that it provided a sober and tempered reading of the scope of possibilities and weight of responsibilities of the USA in relation to new European realities…The current resurgence of Christian realism is a desperate effort of a largely discredited liberalism to highlight the limits of U.S. power or a robust endeavor of an aggressive neoconservatism to promote U.S. hegemony in the world. As a Christian leftist who harkens back to the religious viewpoints and political judgments of Niebuhr's rudimentary version of Christian realism, the contemporary struggle over the legacy of Niebuhr is noteworthy. Yet, more importantly, the insights of Niebuhr's work can be empowering to present-day thinkers when his blindnesses are acknowledged and assessed in regard to U.S. foreign policy in the third world. This acknowledgment and assessment is a matter of life and death for many of the wretched of this earth.”

The US is still as European as its green backs or whatever they make credit cards out of these days. If anything US hegemony has never been greater. Mostly because of how good they can fool their own people. Europe will struggle to get up to speed with the US apparatus of media control but it won’t take long now that they’re on board with the tech. Palestine has just been the laboratory means of achieving this military hegemony of the peoples of the world. Keep your neighbors close meow.


“In short, black Christianity has a strong Dionysian element.
The tension and anxiety produced by the harsh conditions of oppression accentuates this Dionysian aspect. Rhythmic singing, swaying, dancing, preaching, talking, and walking-all features of black life-are weapons of struggle and survival. They not only release pressures and desperation, they also constitute bonds of solidarity and sources for individuality. For example, the famous loud "cry" of black religious and secular singers or the guttural "shout" of preachers are simultaneously groans of hurt, acts of communal catharsis, and stylizations of unique vocal techniques. The heartfelt groans acknowledge the deplorable plight of a downtrodden people. The cathartic acts provide emotional and physical relief from the daily scars of humiliation and degradation.
The individual stylistic vocals assert the sense of "somebodiness" in a situation which denies one's humanity.”

Yes he’s applying Nietzsche here. Not the guy you think you heard caused the holocaust. He’s referring to the Nietzsche who speaks as a master of language. The German philosopher who dignified the people against their rulers. The rulers trying to enforce identitarian social creeds to financial ends. He wrote of the way history repeats itself at the folly of those who mistakenly ontologize the techne of power. Apollo and Dionysus are two personae of the schizo capitalist schism. Understanding the catharsis of this kind of political spiritualism is the conscience of the people whether you’re a Christian or the anti-Christ.


“The Palestinian Issue
As the plight of Palestinian people became more visible, American foreign policy more insistently pro-Israel, and South African-Israeli relations less belligerent, many black Americans began to think more critically about the difficult predicament of Isracl questioning not their support of Israel, but rather Israel's treatment of its Arab inhabitants and the drift toward the right within Israeli politics.
Contrary to widespread misperceptions, major black American leaders have never supported, or called for support of, the Palestinian Liberation Organization. But, like many Americans and some Israclis, some black figures have encouraged various voices of the Palestinian people to be heard. And to the degree to which these voices are those of the PLO, some black leaders have tried to listen-but never uncritically. The terrible assaults of the PLO on the Israch people are well known and de-plorable, just as the Isracli disposscssion of Palestinian lands and treatment of Arabs in Isracl, though less well known, are deplorable. This tragic deadlock continues, with little sign of change, and, just as in South Africa, the Philippines, Central America, and Poland, violence, suffering, and fear prevail.
In the meantime, many Jewish Americans accuse black Americans of betrayal, of a failure to grasp the Israeli plight of living under the threat of national death, and of supporting quotas for their own group gain.
And many black leaders accuse Jewish Americans of retreat, of giving uncritical support to conservative Israeli policies, and of opposing quotas for their group gain. These accusations-quite rational ones, worthy of serious dialogue-often degenerate into charges of antiSemitism and racism. We know perfectly well that criticism of Israeli Policies is not necessarily anti-Semitic and rejection of quotas is not inherently racist. But with the crosion of trust and respect, such criticisms and rejections rouse suspicion. As we reach the end of the third stage of black-Jewish relations, we seem to have reached their nadir.
Yet a fourth stage looms in the present. It can begin-in earnest— when a candid and rational dialogue between black and Jewish people replaces calculated misunderstandings and petty name-calling. The importance of this dialogue is not only the possible resolution and reconciliation of disagreement-for some of the disagreements may be genuinely irreconcilable— but also the restoration of civility and respect for one another as interlocutors in a dialogue. Afro-Americans and Jewish Americans still have much to learn from one another and still have to face the common enemy of American xenophobia, especially racism and anti-Semitism. Let us hope that in the last decades of this century we will witness a renewal of honest and rational dialogue which characterized the first decades of the century. But this will be so only if we make it so.”

This is an old take but good to have a historical perspective to effectively reset our focus on the now.


“Marable first burst onto the intellectual scene with "From The Grassroots: Social and Political Essays Towards Afro-American Libera-tion" (1980). Here he outlined his "left Black nationalist" position, which combined a Marxist critique of U.S. capitalist society with an appreciation for the distinctiveness and dignity of Afro-American culture. In "Blackwater: Historical Studies in Race, Class Consciousness and Revolution" (1981), Marable put forward a schematic reconstruction of Afro-American history guided by that same perspective. Inspired by the work and style of W. E. B. Du Bois, he intertwined poetic and historical discourses in examining the black radical tradition and in exploring how its subversive elements could be more fully reactivated in our time. Both works were provocative, yet ultimately uneven, owing to Marable's highly ambitious intent and impatient execution.
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America is clearly Marable's best work to date. This book overcomes the disjointedness which plagued his earlier works by sustaining a cohesive portrait of Afro-America. It also provides the single most compelling Marxist depiction of the crisis of contemporary black America.”

…Oh boy.


“In short, it combines the two major organic artistic traditions in black America-black thetoric and black music. In this sense, like bebop and technofunk, black rap music resists nonblack reproduction, though such imitations and emulations proliferate. Yet unlike bebop and technofunk-and this is a crucial break—-black rap music is primarily the musical expression of the paradoxical cry of desperation and celebration of the black underclass and Poor working class, a cry which openly acknowledges and confronts the wave of personal cold-heartedness, criminal cruelty, and existential hope-Icssness in the black ghettos of Afro-America. In stark contrast to bebop and technofunk, black rap music is principally a class-specific form of the Afro-American spiritual-blues impulse which mutes, and often elimi-nates, the utopian dimension of this impulse. The major predecessor of black rap music was the political raps of Gil-Scott Heron and the powerful musical poems of the Last Poets over a decade ago; their content was angry, funky, and hopeful. Black rap music is surely grounded in the Afro-American spiritual-blues impulse, but certain versions of this music radically call into question the roots of this impulse, the roots of transcendence and opposition. Without a utopian dimension-without transcendence from or opposition to evil- there can be no struggle, no hope, no meaning. Needless to say, the celebratory form of black rap music, especially its upbeat African rhythms, contains utopian aspira-tions. But this form is often violently juxtaposed with lyrical hopelessness of the oppressed poor people of Afro-America. My hunch is that the form (the funky rhythms) have basically a ritualistic function: music for cathartic release at the black rituals of parties and dances. In short, even the rhythms conceal the unprecedented phenomena in Afro-American life; the slow but seemingly sure genocidal effects upon the black underclass and poor working class in late capitalist U.S. society and the inability of poor black folk to muster spiritual, let alone political and economic, resources to survive. This is especially so for young black pcople. The black suicide rate among 18-30 year olds has quadrupled in the past two decades; black homicide is the leading cause of death among young black men; over 50 percent of black households are headed by abandoned and abused young black women; black prison population has doubled since the 1960s; and black churches, led by either rip-off artists like Rev. Ike, devout denominational leaders such as Rev: Jemison of the National Baptist Convention, or dedicated prophets like Rev. Daughtry of the National Black United Front- do not reach the vast majority of young black people.
Black rap music is the last form of transcendence available to young black ghetto dwellers, yet it, tellingly, is often employed to subvert, undermine, and parody transcendence itself. Such artistic strategies- such as play, silence, and performance-are typical postmodern ones in which petit bourgeois artists, philosophers, and critics wallow. Yet the indigenous proliferation of these strategies among the (once most religious now most degraded and oppressed people in the urban centers of the richest country in the history of humankind signifies a crisis of enormous proportions for Afro-America.
It is ironic that the Afro-Americanization of popular music around the world occurs at the time that the transcendent and oppositional roots of the Afro-American spiritual-blues impulse is radically challenged from within the Afro-American musical tradition. This challenge occurs not simply because of lack of will or loss of nerve but primarily because of treacherous ruling-class policies, contemptuous black middle-class attitudes, and the loss of existential moorings due to the relative collapse of family structures and supportive networks. To put it bluntly, the roots of the Afro-American spiritual-blues impulse are based on the opposition that somebody-God, Mom, or neighbors-cares.”

Rap music was and still sometimes is an art. It’s not kitsch. At least a lot of it is real. Usually not the stuff you hear about. In America and in other late capitalist countries we’re forgetting what it means to have cultural sacredness. It’s a good reminder of what it means to be an American. The people can recognize itself in artistic minority struggles without exploiting them. Late capitalism has become an imperialist exploitation machine. But it doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge the difference between the people and those who misuse their power over the people.

With modern wars being fought in the shadow of past mythologies, this is some dangerous knowledge. To use the terminology of Run the Jewels, our leaders “roll a grenade in the dugout”…”or not” when the optics get bad. When algorithms tell them to. We have to find ways to protect what is sacred without it instigating more violence.

Today the middle class is punished by falling into the lower class. And this is what we get for regaining our conscience and believing in the debt/credit systems our leaders preached to us? We gotta get together as a class of many kinds of people against the greedy CEOs and governments of the world who see human behavior like a game. This doesn’t mean denying a minority its right to catharsis. Demographic politics is bad when we mistake top down populism for the actual people.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN EXPLORATION OF “PRINCIPLED PROPHETISM” IN CHRISTIANITY

Cornel West is a famous professor, magnificent public speaker, activist, and author (e.g., 'Race Matters,' 'Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism,' etc.), and preeminent “public intellectual.”

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1988 book, “The principal aim of this book is to examine and explore, delineate and demystify, counter and contest the widespread accommodation of American religion to the political and cultural status quo. This accommodation is suffocating much of the best in American religion; it promotes and encourages an existential emptiness and political irrelevance. This accommodation is, at bottom, idolatrous---it worships the gods created by American society and kneels before the altars erected by American culture… This book purports to set forth the contours of a principled prophetism in the form of essays, articles, reviews, and fiction. I live, work, and write out of … the prophetic stream of the Christian tradition. I first encountered this stream in the bosom of the black Baptist heritage in America… yet I am concerned with the prophetic potential of all religions (such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam) and the progressive possibilities of all secular ideologies…”

In the first essay, he explains, “In this essay, I shall focus principally on the intellectual and existential sources that inform King’s thought---that is, intellectual and existential sources that are preeminently religious in character and prophetic in content. I suggest that there are four major sources in King’s thought. The first---and most important---source was the prophetic black church tradition… The second consisted of a prophetic liberal Christianity King encountered in his higher education and scholarly training... The third source was a prophetic Gandhian method of nonviolent social change… The last source was that or prophetic American civil religion that fuses secular and sacred history and combines Christian themes of deliverance and salvation with political ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality. I shall argue that these four sources constitute the major pillars of Martin Luther King Jr.’s thought.” (Pg. 3-4)

He outlines, “The principle African resources in black Christianity were threefold. First, a ‘kinetic orality’ permeated black sermons and songs, black prayers and hymns. A sense of community was constituted and reinforced by an invigorated rhetoric, rhythmic freedom… Second, a ‘passionate physicality’ accented black control and power over …their bodies… Last, a ‘combative spirituality’ was promoted and promulgated by the central roles of preacher, deacon, and choir… This sense of struggle paradoxically cultivates a historical patience and subversive joy, a sober survival ethic and an openness to seize credible liberation opportunities.” (Pg. 5-6)

He points out, “The position of the prophetic black church… is a complex one. First, like the Moral Majority, it affirms that the Christian faith mandates a public and political presence in society---though it differs greatly from the followers of Jerry Falwell with regard to what kind of presence this should be… Unlike the Moral Majority, the prophetic black church holds that Christian intervention into the public arena must speak the common moral language of the society as a whole: namely, the language of rights. This is so because the crucial doctrine of the separation of church and state is precious for the prophetic black church.” (Pg. 23)

He suggests, “To put it bluntly, promoting democratic socialism as an acceptable program for late capitalist societies is like appealing to liberal theology in our postmodern times: both constitute creative projects of an era now past. Of course, both democratic socialism and liberal theology are crucial stepping-stones to new projects and have much to teach us… What is required now… is neither warmed-over Marxism, vulgar anti-Marxism, nor superficial post-Marxism. Rather, we need a new social emancipatory vision that takes seriously Marxism. Feminism, Garveyism, ecologism, and antimilitarism. There are some of us who still believe … that the Christian gospel provides invaluable resources for such a vision.” (Pg. 29)

He acknowledges, “The impact of mass culture… has diminished the influence of the family and church. Among large numbers of black youth, it is black music that serves as the central influence regarding values and sensibilities. Since little of this music is spiritually inspiring, black people have fewer and fewer spiritual resources to serve them in periods of crisis. With the invasion of drugs in the black community, a new subculture among black youth has emerged which thrives on criminal behavior and survives on hopelessness… For the first time in Afro-American history, large numbers of black young people believe that nobody---neither God, Mom, or neighbor---CARES. This spiritual crisis cannot go unheeded; for there can be no economic empowerment or political struggle without spiritual resources.” (Pg. 36)

He notes, “The publication of Thomas Sowell’s ‘Race and Economics’ in 1975 marked the rise of a novel phenomenon in the United States: a visible and aggressive black conservative assault on traditional black liberal leadership… The emergence of the new black conservatives is best understood in light of three fundamental processes in American society and culture since 1973: the eclipse of uncontested postwar U.S predominance in world markets and military power, the structural transformation of the American economy, and the breakdown of the moral fabric in communities throughout the country, especially in black working poor and underclass neighborhoods… The principal argument of American conservatives… holds that state regulation and intervention on behalf of disadvantaged citizens … stifles economic growth… Needless to say, more radical democratic socialist perspectives are too marginal in American political culture to be even seriously considered by politicians.” (Pg. 55-56)

He suggests, “Since the Christian church is neither solely a social action group nor a revolutionary movement, its role is unique. The church should perennially measure the world in light of the ideal of Christian love, relate this ideal to the prevailing systems of power and control, and commit itself to the struggle for dignity against systems which deny it.” (Pg. 88)

He admits, “We must frankly acknowledge that a democratic socialist society will not necessarily eradicate racism. Yet a democratic socialist is the best hope for alleviating and minimizing racism, particularly institutional forms of racism. This conclusion depends on a candid evaluation that guards against utopian self-deception.” (Pg. 108)

He argues, “narrow black nationalism … is understandable, but in no way justifiable… A symbolic figure like Louis Farrakhan emerges because he articulates a bold rhetoric of black defiance and black dignity in the face of the MATERIAL effects of the business assault and the EXISTENTIAL effects of the black encapsulation… Narrow black nationalism is unjustifiable, simply because it cannot deliver what it promises to achieve: black enhancement, especially of the black working poor and underclass.” (Pg. 139-140)

Although this is one of Prof. West’s earlier books, its tone and vision remain very relevant to the current world situation.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays by Cornel West are prophetic in two ways. First, as the title suggests they portray a cogent politically progressive, Christian response to current events and issues. Secondly, they are prophetic in that even though these essays were written int eh early to mid 1980's (the book was published in 1988), his analysis of class warfare, of the concentration of wealth, of the abuse of poor people of color and so on, is incredibly relevant. Not many people were writing what West was writing in 1985 and yet today his perspectives seem self-evident. The book makes me want to read West's current essays to see where we may be heading in the next 25 years. While at times pedantic and tinged with scholarly in-fighting (West takes on many of his philosophical and political peers in academia), this book is amazingly insightful and relevant despite being written nearly 25 years ago.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, "A Philosophical View of Easter," regardless of whether you are comfortable with non-commensense understandings of "truth," is pretty rad.