Black Theology in Americas 1492 -PresentBlack Theology in Americas 1492 -Present
Health and Healing Dealing with Trauma and Addictions
Mike D traces the history of Black theology across Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Afro-Caribbean religions, and Buddhism, focusing on race, identity, and belonging. He contrasts modern antisemitism with historical visions of solidarity between Black and Jewish communities, especially through the lens of Edward Wilmot Blyden.
19:07•26 Jun 2026
Black Theology, Race, and Belonging: From 1492 to Today
Episode Overview
- Black theology today is presented as dialogue with history, the wider church, other religions, and a society still struggling with race and justice.
- Willie Jennings and Esau Macaulay are highlighted for reshaping Christian thought around race, land, community, and scripture through a Black lens.
- Black Islam, Black Hebrew Israelites, Afro-Caribbean religions, and Black Buddhists are shown as diverse spiritual responses to oppression and identity questions.
- Rising Black antisemitism is contrasted with historic and contemporary calls for unity between Black and Jewish communities.
- Edward Wilmot Blyden’s work is used to argue that Blacks and Jews share parallel histories of suffering and can move forward in mutual respect and affection.
“We are not two communities, but one community, under one administration, under one God.”
What drives someone to seek a life of healing that includes history, race, and faith all in one conversation? This episode brings Mike D’s passion for health, trauma, and spirituality into a sweeping look at Black theology in America from 1492 to the present. Rather than focusing on personal relapse stories, this talk traces how Black Christians, Muslims, Jews, Afro-Caribbean practitioners, and Buddhists have wrestled with questions of race, justice, and belonging.
You’ll hear about Willie Jennings’ critique of a “racialised Christian imagination,” Esau Macaulay’s “Black ecclesiastical hermeneutic,” and how their work shows that “contemporary Black theology is… protest but reconstruction, faithful, communal, and transformative.” Mike walks through the Nation of Islam, Black Hebrew Israelite movements, Afro-Caribbean religions like Vodou and Santería, and Black Buddhists such as Jan Willis and Rev. angel Kyodo Williams.
Each stream is presented as part of a wider search for dignity, community, and spiritual grounding in a fractured society. A major thread is the relationship between Black and Jewish communities. Mike highlights rising Black antisemitism and contrasts it with voices calling for unity.
He quotes Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s striking line: “We are not two communities, but one community, under one administration, under one God.” The episode closes with the story of Edward Wilmot Blyden, a 19th-century Black nationalist who admired Judaism, Hebrew scripture, and Zionism, seeing Jews and Blacks as “children of endurance and suffering” with “almost identical sorrow and oppression.” For Mike, Blyden’s vision of mutual respect and shared destiny stands as a firm answer to divisive replacement ideologies.
If you’re curious how faith, race, trauma, and identity can shape healing for whole communities, this conversation might prompt you to ask: what kind of spiritual story are you choosing to stand in?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.