The Cross and the Lynching Tree

One of the most profoundly tragic and necessary books for Christians to read and digest.

You MUST read this book. Every American needs to read this book. It is the single most important book I’ve ever read, and that is saying something. Powerful. Succinct. Profound. Brilliant. Poetic. Incisive. Historical. Theological. Amazing.

I attended Fuller Theological Seminary and read many book on theology and this moved me like no other. The terror that Black suffered was horrific after the Civil War . The horrible irony was these so-called Christians were crucifying their fellow citizens the way Jesus was put to death. Highly recommended pondering this tragic history especially with rise of Christian Nationalism today.

Raw, visceral, tender. I am deeply glad to have read this book. I cannot recommend it enough.

Amazing.
Gut wrenching.
Thought provoking.
A powerful look at the brutality of racism in the U.S. and the role religion has played in it - both negatively and positively.

Wonderful, insightful, full of truth and power. Loved it !

Brilliant just Brilliant. Explored a topic I knew little of and written with beauty and pathos, despite the horror of the topic

A powerful and eye-opening read that has inspired me to further my reading in the American black experience. The connection was solidly made between the cross of Christ and the lynching tree of the South, and Cone rightly decried the fact that it is a connection rarely made. His chapters on Neibuhr and King were excellent. The tension between embracing the cross and fighting for liberation from injustice was insightful, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. The book leaves a lot for the reader to think about.

Excellent and heartbreaking and quite the reckoning. The Christian God is a god of the oppressed. Those without power take solace in the cross and what came after. America was never a Christian nation, not with a history of violence like this. When will we stop being the oppressors.

This is an original concept and glimpse at American theology by juxtaposing the lynching tree with the Christian Cross. The analogy fades in and out, but Cone draws literature, history, music, and art to weave a rich tapestry of work.

I will say that this is not really a book for the average public. The chapter on Niebuhr is dry and academic in focus, plus Cone assumes that his audience knows liberation theology, and I do not. Nevertheless, a provocative book with an urgent and timely focus.

An incredibly detailed and rich examination of the relationship between American Christianity and the scourge of lynching. The author interrogates White Christianity's unwillingness to engage with or even acknowledge the evil that was perpetrated in their own communities often by members of their own churches. Whether complicit or actively participating in the murder of Black people, the White church was quick to forget these events and not revisit them, as if ignoring them would absolve the guilty.

But this book does not stop at the White church but also delves into what the Black church made of such rampant evil which targeted them and their loved ones. How did those living in fear of lynching reconcile this great injustice with the just God they believe in? How have the cross and the lynching tree come to affect the faith of Black people all across the country? What is the legacy of this great generational suffering and how has it altered the practice of the Christian faith?

There is truly so much in this book. I read it with my mother, who found it very revealing and disturbing. Of course it is extremely revealing and disturbing to myself as well although I had a somewhat better grasp of the history. I learned about lynching in school and at university, but I'd never seen it addressed in a religious context. Although I'd been attending church for my entire life, I've never heard a sermon on the topic or even had it acknowledged, much less felt the weight of complicity and guilt that the White church still bears. It's a lot to reckon with, and I read this book slowly, meditating upon it and rereading chapters frequently. I won't say that I've absorbed all that I have to learn from this book, but it's given me eyes to see at least the borders of my own blindness.

Although a bit repetitive, this is an enlightening, powerful, and carefully presented book. There is enough material covered in it that an essay on the topic would not have sufficed. A good read during these troubling #BlackLivesMatter days.

The author compares the lynchings of black people to the crucifixion of Christ. While there's a fascinating and accurate parallel, not much was said beyond giving a history of lynching and showing the hypocrisy of white Christians who were involved in them. I wish it was slightly less repetitive and dove a bit deeper into what that parallel should mean for Christians. The most powerful moments came from his explanation of the song "Strange Fruit" and the description of lynchings witnessed by young black people like Martin Luther King Jr.'s father. It's a heartbreaking piece of our history, but one that is absolutely critical that we don't forget or look away from.

"When we remember we give voice to the victims."

Unforgettable and a total rebuke of old white culture. What happened in the American South happened in Canada happened in King Leopold's Congo. The black church rocks and its people won through incredible hatred and obstacles. Read the book. Hard to fathom. Lord have mercy.