The Only Way to Salvation: A Christological Critique

Abstract

In chapter 1, I tried to expose the problem of black conversion to a Eurocentric form of Christianity, specifically, the requirement of converts to realize and accept their own utter human depravity. My point was to show that given the racialized context in America at the time of conversion, black Christians’ acceptance of ontological sin meant accepting a denigrating view of Africa as the land of heathen idolatry, the land of no religion, and laid the foundation for black Christian anti-African sentiment. The doctrine that bolsters this sentiment, however, is that of Jesus Christ as exclusive savior, specifically, the notion that Jesus Christ alone saves the sinner from an eternity in hell. Acceptance of this doctrine bolsters anti-African sentiment among black Christians, because it suggests, indeed, that Africans had no knowledge of God or ultimate truth in their homeland and were destined for hell prior to European capture and enslavement in the Americas. It is a doctrine that delegitimizes non-Christocentric truth, thus dismissing outright the possibility that traditional African religious systems possess legitimate knowledge and have truth to share, especially for people of African descent. Thus, Christological exclusivity emerges as a concern because of the way it disavows nonWestern religious knowledge, further exacerbating black Christian alienation from traditional Africa.