What do you think?
Rate this book
The Black Messiah: On Black Consciousness and Black Power
On Black consciousness and Black power... A strong and uncompromising presentation by one of America's most influential Black religious leaders.
278 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
131 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 3, 2024
A PROVOCATIVE, PASSIONATE STATEMENT
Albert Cleage (1911-2000; he later changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman) was a Black Christian religious leader, political organizer and author. He is founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Church and Cultural Centers in Detroit and Atlanta, and later founded a church-owned "Beulah Land Farms" in South Carolina and spent most of his last years there. He also wrote Black Christian Nationalism: New Directions for the Black Church.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1968 book (reprinted 1989), “For nearly 500 years the illusion that Jesus was white dominated the world only because white Europeans dominated the world. Now, with the emergence of the nationalist movements of the world’s colored majority, the historic truth is finally beginning to emerge---that Jesus was the non-white leader of a non-white people struggling for national liberation against the rule of a white nation, Rome. The intermingling of the races in Africa and the Mediterranean area is an established fact. The Nation Israel was a mixture of Chaldeans, Egyptians, Midianites, Ethiopians, Kushites, Babylonians and other dark peoples, all of whom were already mixed with the black people of Central Africa.” (Pg. 3)
He continues, “Black people cannot build dignity on their knees worshipping a white Christ. We must put down this white Jesus which the white man gave us in slavery and which has been tearing us to pieces… Jesus was a revolutionary black leader, a Zealot, seeking to lead a Black Nation to freedom, so the Black Church must carefully define the nature of the revolution.” (Pg. 3-4) He adds, “We could not worship a Black Jesus until we had thrown off the shackles of self-hate. We could not follow a Black Messiah in the tasks of building a Black Nation until we had found the courage to look back beyond the slave block and the slave ship without shame.” (Pg. 7)
He ends the Introduction with the statement, “The sermons included in this volume were preached to black people. They are published in the hope that they may help other black people find their way back to the historic Black Messiah, and at the request of many black preachers who are earnestly seeking ways to make their preaching relevant to the complex and urgent needs of the black community. White people who read these pages are permitted to listen to a black man talking to black people.” (Pg. 9)
He states, “All religions stem from black people... The white man’s religion was the primitive religion of the pagans with a pantheon of gods throwing thunderbolts and cavorting about heaven and earth, filled with lust and violence… The white man has never created a genuine religion. He
has only borrowed religions from non-white people." (Pg. 38)
He points out, “Abraham, the father of Israel was a Chaldean. Look at your map of this part of the world, and you will find that there was very little likelihood that the Chaldeans were white… He went out from the Chaldean city of Ur into Africa. He went down into Egypt and dwelt in Egypt among the Egyptians… recent studies prove that many of the Pharaohs were black or Negroid. Only the American white man tries to pretend that the Egyptians were white.” (Pg 39) He adds, “[Abraham] married Hagar, his Egyptian servant, and had a child by her named Ishmael… Ishmael is traditionally reputed to be the father of the Arabic Nation. Abraham was very closely identified with the black people of Africa.” (Pg. 40)
He goes on, “Later on… Moses is quite obviously, by the biblical story, part Egyptian. His adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter does not ring true. Moses is at least half-Egyptian and half-Jewish…. [which] makes him unquestionably all non-white. This is Moses. We’re still dealing with the Nation Israel which is always depicted as a white nation. The Nation Israel was not at any time a white nation. Where could they have picked up any white blood, wandering around Africa?... Moses married a Midianite, a black woman, and had children.” (Pg. 40)
He notes, “Jesus came to the Black Nation Israel… We are concerned with the actual blood line. Jesus was born to Mary, a Jew of the tribe of Judah, a non-white people; black people in the same sense that the Egyptians were black people, Jesus was a Black Messiah born to a black woman. The pictures of the Black Madonna which are all over the world did not all turn black through some mysterious accident… the Black Madonna is an historic fact, and Jesus as a Black Messiah is an historic fact.” (Pg. 42) Later, he adds, “Those of us who are in the Black Nation realize that we are God’s chosen people. No matter what the enemy does to us, we are God’s chosen people and we must love one each other.” (Pg. 59)
He asserts, “All the dreams of building a Black nation evaporated as soon as they grabbed Jesus. And where did they take him? To the Sanhedrin… Naturally they found him guilty. Then they took him to the Romans who did what the oppressor always does… Jesus understood all of this. When they arrested him, that was it… If you can’t understand that Jesus was crucified because he tried to bring a Black nation into being and fought against white oppression, you can’t understand the Resurrection, because the Resurrection is the Resurrection of a Nation.” (Pg. 83-84) Later, he adds, “We’ll try to love each other as much as we can, as hard as it is, inside the Black Nation. Outside the Nation we are not thinking about love. We are thinking about Justice.” (Pg. 97)
He suggests, “today, in thousands of black churches all over this land, millions of black Christians will be running up and down the aisles and shouting hallelujah… If that doesn’t sound peculiar to you, go home and think about it. Why do you think that a white Jesus would save you from the oppression of white men? That doesn’t make sense. If he’s their Jesus, he’s saving them. If he’s our Jesus, then we have got to think this whole Christian thing through again. All that we have been taught stems from a false history, a false theology and a false interpretation of the Bible. Everything about traditional Christianity is false. Just because you have been believing it a long time does not make it true.” (Pg. 87)
He states, “We know that Israel was a black nation and that descendants of the original black Jews are in Israel, Africa, and the Mediterranean area today. The Bible was written by black Jews. The Old Testament is the history of black Jews… Jesus was a Black Messiah. He came to free a black people from the oppression of the white Gentiles… Our religion, our preaching, our teachings all come from the Old Testament, for we are God’s chosen people… Jesus tried to teach the Nation Israel how to come together as a black people, to be brothers one with another and to stand against their white oppressors.” (Pg. 111) He continues, “The Black Revolution is not going any farther than the Black Church enables it to go, by giving it a foundation, a philosophy, and a direction. Angry frustrated black people running up and down the street are not going to make a Black Revolution.” (Pg. 113)
He acknowledges, “We cannot pray for racial peace yet. Not in this church, because we know whom we serve… We do not pray for racial peace. We pray for our brothers and sisters who were killed during the rebellion in Newark and Detroit and other cities. We pray for those who are still herded into filthy cowpens because they are black.” (Pg. 131)
He proposes, “We can no longer leave our black children in the hands of a white enemy to educate… He is not educating black people. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just check the city-wide achievement tests. Your children… are two, three or four grades below white children in the same grade… We can’t stand for that. We have got to take control of the educational system in our community… That is the meaning of the revolt. That is why people were willing to die.” (Pg. 153) He adds, “The white man is an enemy. I know that you wish we could say the same thing some other way. But there is no other honest way of saying it!” (Pg. 194-195)
He explains, “I criticize the things [Martin Luther King Jr.] said, but I have only admiration for the things he did. We learned from the struggle and conflict which he made possible.” (Pg. 210) He adds, “Black churches, for the most part, do not play any significant constructive role in the education of black children. In fact, they play a destructive one.” (Pg. 227)
He summarizes, “This sense of the Nation ties the Bible together, both the Old Testament and the Gospels of Jesus. After killing the Egyptian, Moses fled to Midion, the land of black people. There he married a black woman. The Nation Israel was a Black Nation intermingled with all the black peoples of Africa. So there was nothing strange about Moses marrying a black woman. His father-in-law was a priest of Midion, and Moses tended his flocks.” (Pg. 243)
He concludes, “Until we make amends, we are not fit for a Promised Land. Don’t ask, ‘When is the kingdom coming?’ Ask, ‘What can I do to wipe out one hundred years of self-hatred, cowardice and betrayal?’ … Don’t ask, ‘Is the Promised Land at hand, and do they have the red carpet out for us to march in?’ The red carpet is already there. It is the blood of our mothers, our fathers, and our grandfathers.” (Pg. 271)
This book is “must reading” for anyone seriously studying Black Theology, Black Nationalism, or related movements.
Albert Cleage (1911-2000; he later changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman) was a Black Christian religious leader, political organizer and author. He is founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Church and Cultural Centers in Detroit and Atlanta, and later founded a church-owned "Beulah Land Farms" in South Carolina and spent most of his last years there. He also wrote Black Christian Nationalism: New Directions for the Black Church.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1968 book (reprinted 1989), “For nearly 500 years the illusion that Jesus was white dominated the world only because white Europeans dominated the world. Now, with the emergence of the nationalist movements of the world’s colored majority, the historic truth is finally beginning to emerge---that Jesus was the non-white leader of a non-white people struggling for national liberation against the rule of a white nation, Rome. The intermingling of the races in Africa and the Mediterranean area is an established fact. The Nation Israel was a mixture of Chaldeans, Egyptians, Midianites, Ethiopians, Kushites, Babylonians and other dark peoples, all of whom were already mixed with the black people of Central Africa.” (Pg. 3)
He continues, “Black people cannot build dignity on their knees worshipping a white Christ. We must put down this white Jesus which the white man gave us in slavery and which has been tearing us to pieces… Jesus was a revolutionary black leader, a Zealot, seeking to lead a Black Nation to freedom, so the Black Church must carefully define the nature of the revolution.” (Pg. 3-4) He adds, “We could not worship a Black Jesus until we had thrown off the shackles of self-hate. We could not follow a Black Messiah in the tasks of building a Black Nation until we had found the courage to look back beyond the slave block and the slave ship without shame.” (Pg. 7)
He ends the Introduction with the statement, “The sermons included in this volume were preached to black people. They are published in the hope that they may help other black people find their way back to the historic Black Messiah, and at the request of many black preachers who are earnestly seeking ways to make their preaching relevant to the complex and urgent needs of the black community. White people who read these pages are permitted to listen to a black man talking to black people.” (Pg. 9)
He states, “All religions stem from black people... The white man’s religion was the primitive religion of the pagans with a pantheon of gods throwing thunderbolts and cavorting about heaven and earth, filled with lust and violence… The white man has never created a genuine religion. He
has only borrowed religions from non-white people." (Pg. 38)
He points out, “Abraham, the father of Israel was a Chaldean. Look at your map of this part of the world, and you will find that there was very little likelihood that the Chaldeans were white… He went out from the Chaldean city of Ur into Africa. He went down into Egypt and dwelt in Egypt among the Egyptians… recent studies prove that many of the Pharaohs were black or Negroid. Only the American white man tries to pretend that the Egyptians were white.” (Pg 39) He adds, “[Abraham] married Hagar, his Egyptian servant, and had a child by her named Ishmael… Ishmael is traditionally reputed to be the father of the Arabic Nation. Abraham was very closely identified with the black people of Africa.” (Pg. 40)
He goes on, “Later on… Moses is quite obviously, by the biblical story, part Egyptian. His adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter does not ring true. Moses is at least half-Egyptian and half-Jewish…. [which] makes him unquestionably all non-white. This is Moses. We’re still dealing with the Nation Israel which is always depicted as a white nation. The Nation Israel was not at any time a white nation. Where could they have picked up any white blood, wandering around Africa?... Moses married a Midianite, a black woman, and had children.” (Pg. 40)
He notes, “Jesus came to the Black Nation Israel… We are concerned with the actual blood line. Jesus was born to Mary, a Jew of the tribe of Judah, a non-white people; black people in the same sense that the Egyptians were black people, Jesus was a Black Messiah born to a black woman. The pictures of the Black Madonna which are all over the world did not all turn black through some mysterious accident… the Black Madonna is an historic fact, and Jesus as a Black Messiah is an historic fact.” (Pg. 42) Later, he adds, “Those of us who are in the Black Nation realize that we are God’s chosen people. No matter what the enemy does to us, we are God’s chosen people and we must love one each other.” (Pg. 59)
He asserts, “All the dreams of building a Black nation evaporated as soon as they grabbed Jesus. And where did they take him? To the Sanhedrin… Naturally they found him guilty. Then they took him to the Romans who did what the oppressor always does… Jesus understood all of this. When they arrested him, that was it… If you can’t understand that Jesus was crucified because he tried to bring a Black nation into being and fought against white oppression, you can’t understand the Resurrection, because the Resurrection is the Resurrection of a Nation.” (Pg. 83-84) Later, he adds, “We’ll try to love each other as much as we can, as hard as it is, inside the Black Nation. Outside the Nation we are not thinking about love. We are thinking about Justice.” (Pg. 97)
He suggests, “today, in thousands of black churches all over this land, millions of black Christians will be running up and down the aisles and shouting hallelujah… If that doesn’t sound peculiar to you, go home and think about it. Why do you think that a white Jesus would save you from the oppression of white men? That doesn’t make sense. If he’s their Jesus, he’s saving them. If he’s our Jesus, then we have got to think this whole Christian thing through again. All that we have been taught stems from a false history, a false theology and a false interpretation of the Bible. Everything about traditional Christianity is false. Just because you have been believing it a long time does not make it true.” (Pg. 87)
He states, “We know that Israel was a black nation and that descendants of the original black Jews are in Israel, Africa, and the Mediterranean area today. The Bible was written by black Jews. The Old Testament is the history of black Jews… Jesus was a Black Messiah. He came to free a black people from the oppression of the white Gentiles… Our religion, our preaching, our teachings all come from the Old Testament, for we are God’s chosen people… Jesus tried to teach the Nation Israel how to come together as a black people, to be brothers one with another and to stand against their white oppressors.” (Pg. 111) He continues, “The Black Revolution is not going any farther than the Black Church enables it to go, by giving it a foundation, a philosophy, and a direction. Angry frustrated black people running up and down the street are not going to make a Black Revolution.” (Pg. 113)
He acknowledges, “We cannot pray for racial peace yet. Not in this church, because we know whom we serve… We do not pray for racial peace. We pray for our brothers and sisters who were killed during the rebellion in Newark and Detroit and other cities. We pray for those who are still herded into filthy cowpens because they are black.” (Pg. 131)
He proposes, “We can no longer leave our black children in the hands of a white enemy to educate… He is not educating black people. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just check the city-wide achievement tests. Your children… are two, three or four grades below white children in the same grade… We can’t stand for that. We have got to take control of the educational system in our community… That is the meaning of the revolt. That is why people were willing to die.” (Pg. 153) He adds, “The white man is an enemy. I know that you wish we could say the same thing some other way. But there is no other honest way of saying it!” (Pg. 194-195)
He explains, “I criticize the things [Martin Luther King Jr.] said, but I have only admiration for the things he did. We learned from the struggle and conflict which he made possible.” (Pg. 210) He adds, “Black churches, for the most part, do not play any significant constructive role in the education of black children. In fact, they play a destructive one.” (Pg. 227)
He summarizes, “This sense of the Nation ties the Bible together, both the Old Testament and the Gospels of Jesus. After killing the Egyptian, Moses fled to Midion, the land of black people. There he married a black woman. The Nation Israel was a Black Nation intermingled with all the black peoples of Africa. So there was nothing strange about Moses marrying a black woman. His father-in-law was a priest of Midion, and Moses tended his flocks.” (Pg. 243)
He concludes, “Until we make amends, we are not fit for a Promised Land. Don’t ask, ‘When is the kingdom coming?’ Ask, ‘What can I do to wipe out one hundred years of self-hatred, cowardice and betrayal?’ … Don’t ask, ‘Is the Promised Land at hand, and do they have the red carpet out for us to march in?’ The red carpet is already there. It is the blood of our mothers, our fathers, and our grandfathers.” (Pg. 271)
This book is “must reading” for anyone seriously studying Black Theology, Black Nationalism, or related movements.
March 31, 2020
Had a professor mention this in class...an eye-opening read for sure.
April 7, 2025
eye opening
September 10, 2016
Not much has changed in a couple generations. The reverend spoke to many of the same issues that continue to affect the contemporary. Such as police brutality, under employment and high crime neighborhoods. These sermons were written as a plan of action, marching orders to his congregation. He referenced the uprisings in several cites some of which I've never heard of. He tells of a police man in new jersey who was stomped to death by angry protestors for his involvement in the killing a black teen. It's interesting seeing the attempts of his generation to implement change in hindsight. Reading this gave me a better feel and understanding of that era.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews