{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02377179080824089, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.847222222222222, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
God is a Negro: The (Rhetorical) Black Theology of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner

Abstract In this essay, I argue that Henry McNeal Turner was doing something way more complex than just declaring “God is a Negro” when he uttered this iconic statement. It is my belief he was offering a deep theological analysis on God-talk, language and hermeneutics, in addition to providing a radical version of a contextual theology that predates our modern understanding of the term. In addition, Turner's editorial also offers a critique to the hegemonic Christian interpretation of his day, namely, asking African Americans to see and experience God in a new and affirming way. I have accomplished this task by offering a rhetorical analysis of this statement, arguing that Turner engaged in what some scholars call rhetorical theology. By maintaining that all theology is at its core a form of argument, “rhetorical theology” places emphasis on how a speaker or writer situates language in order to persuade its hearers to a certain position. In other words, when Turner spoke and wrote “God is a Negro,” he was not doing systematic theology, he was engaged in a public theology – a rhetorical enterprise, that had as its aim a persuasive function within a specific context.