RAISING THE QUESTION IN ENCOUNTER

For black theology it was never just the colossal reality of evil that constituted the problem of theodicy. It was always the fact that the reality of suffering and evil challenged the faith affirmation that God is liberating the oppressed from human captivity. All of the questions ensuing from this fact remain centered on this assumption. In black theology, the point of departure is never a philosophical, theoretical debate – it is always the hard, bitter reality of suffering in the lives of black people, and the belief in God as the God of liberation. The questions, as to whether God is omnipotent and unlimited in goodness, and why God does not destroy the powers of evil through the establishment of righteousness, are never questions that stand on their own. They are always contextualized and followed by the question: “If God is the One who liberated Israel from Egyptian slavery, who appeared to Jesus as the healer of the sick and the helper of the poor, and who is present today as the Holy Spirit of liberation, then why are black people still living in wretched conditions without the economic and political power to determine their historical destiny?” This is the question that characterizes and particularizes the theodicy issue in black theology.