The man who wrote “Jesus, the Liberator” was born on a day of liberation.
Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. was born on this day, June 19, 1914.
As his biographer (who also happens to be his granddaughter) the task falls to me to not only tell his life story but to also place his life in historical context, to explain how the circumstances, mores, and norms of his times impacted his life and how, in turn, his life affected the zeitgeist of his era. Moreover, the biographer’s responsibility, according to Nigel Hamilton, is to portray “how that individual’s life connects with more universal aspects of the human condition.”(1) In this instance, I aim to explore how his quest for freedom impacted a larger movement for freedom from oppression in the world.
In the autumn of 1969, Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. stood before the mostly white audience of faculty and students to deliver the keynote address at the Convocation of the Andover Newton Theological School. The title of his address was “Jesus, the Liberator.”(2) Johnson would have found a somewhat sympathetic audience at the seminary, located in Newton, Massachusetts, that desegregated well before southern schools of theological education. But his message was a bold one that argued that there was a fatal flaw in American Christian theology and theological education.
Photo Credit: Vanderbilt University Special Collections
On that cool New England day, Johnson confronted those present, saying that ‘the interpretation of Christian Theology and of Jesus expounded by white American theologians is severely limited.” He likened the experience of black students studying at white seminaries to a diet in which those who consumed the milk and meat found that their souls were still empty. The reason, he argued, was that while black seminarians were required to study white theology, those white theologians had failed to study black experiences. Those early black seminarians passed their courses on Barth, Brunner, Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer, and Tillich only to discover that these esteemed theologians articulated a theology for white people that knew nothing of slavery, segregation, fire hoses, police dogs, tear gas, and racial oppression. They knew nothing of those experiences and moreover, deemed the black experience to be illegitimate and inauthentic. Instead, they fashioned a white Christianity that ignored the liberating message of Jesus. Johnson boldly argued, “The white Christ of the white church establishment is the enemy of the black man.”
By contrast, the black seminarian of Johnson’s day had contemplated the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Frantz Fannon, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and Ron Karenga. They were challenging the white racists of their day and helping to dismantle systems of segregation and discrimination. “They have no objection to the combination of such words “black and power,” “black and theology,” “black and church,” “black and Christ,” “black and God.” Johnson concluded by offering a vision of Jesus, the Liberator:
“Liberation was the aim and the goal of the life of Jesus in the world. Liberation expresses the essential thrust of his ministry. The stage of his ministry was the streets. His congregation consisted of those who were written-off by the established church and the state. He ministered to those who needed him, “the nobodies of the world,” the sick, the blind, the lame and the demon possessed.… He offered comfort to the poor who did not fit into the structure of the world. …The people who received help from Jesus are throughout the Gospels on the fringe of society—men who because of fate, guilt and prejudices were considered marked men…”
To be true to the message of Jesus, he called upon his audience “to set free again the powers of the love and liberating ministry of Jesus the liberator.”
In delivering this landmark address, Bishop Johnson became one of the early pioneers in the field of black theology. He would go on to lecture throughout the world, publish numerous articles, and author The Soul of the Black Preacher (1971), Proclamation Theology (1977), Basic Christian Methodist Beliefs (1978), and other works. His address was included in James Gardiner and J. Deotis Roberts, Quest for a Black Theology (1971) as well as James Cone’s first volume of Black Theology: A Documentary History (1979). His writings are also included in anthologies on America Religious History. Black liberation theology permanently changed theological education, and ultimately paved the way for feminist theology, womanist theology, queer theology, disability theology, and other contextual theologies.
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Thus, it seems quite fitting that the man who wrote “Jesus, the Liberator” was born on a day of liberation. June 19, 1865 marked the day that federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and notified formerly enslaved African Americans of their freedom. This took place more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect on January 1, 1863. Upon learning of their freedom, the formerly enslaved held jubilant celebrations. They continued those celebrations annually with a holiday that became known as Juneteenth. Although Juneteenth celebrations waned during the first half of the twentieth century, they enjoyed a resurgence during the Civil Rights Movement, especially around the time of the Poor People’s March in 1968.(3) The march took place about a year before Johnson’s historic address at Andover Newton Theological School.
That Johnson was born on Juneteenth (1914) is a bit of historical synchronicity. It calls to mind another theme in black religious expression: that despite human interference, we still serve an on-time God. It is a reminder that freedom delayed does not mean freedom denied. But as we experience a renewed interest in Juneteenth this year in 2020, we are also reminded by Johnson’s courageous action that now is always the right time to speak truth to power. Now is always the time to call racism by name, whether in the church, academia, school boards, city councils, corporate board rooms, the halls of Congress, the front of the White House, or the streets across the world. Now is the time to demand that our experiences be considered, our voices be heard, and our demands be met. Now is the time for people of faith to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and to let the oppressed go free. Perhaps today, on Juneteenth 2020, the message of liberation is again being fulfilled in our hearing.
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(1) Hamilton, Nigel. How To Do Biography: A Primer. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.
(2) Johnson, Jr., Joseph A. “Jesus, the Liberator.” Johnson, The Soul of the Black Preacher. Pilgrim Press, 1971. This address was originally delivered at the Autumn 1969 Convocation of Andover Newton Theological School.
(3) National Registry of Juneteenth Organizations and Supporters, “History of Juneteenth,” http://juneteenth.com/history.htm, Accessed June 18, 2020.
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Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver is writing a biography and producing a documentary film about her grandfather, Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, CME Bishop, scholar, theologian, and civil rights advocate. Follow on social media @cjohnsonoliver and @bishopjjhistory. Subscribe to this blog in the right column or at the bottom of this page.
