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In this chapter, I provide a constructive analysis of William R. Jones' critique of black theology in light of Long's threefold challenge regarding the study of Afro-American religion. Specifically, I shall support the argument that Jones' analysis raises the stakes regarding "the experience and symbol of God in the religious experience of blacks." Just as Eshu-Elegba stands at the crossroads in the Afro-Atlantic religious imagination, there is an unacknowledged, threshold question for black theologians: "Is God a white racist?" Jones anticipates and responds to the objection that his inquiry is either nonserious or driven by motives that are inimical to the interests of black people.¹ He remarks: "Think not as you read these pages that they were conceived in certainty and ease. Fear and trembling confusion and doubt gave them birth. And if my words bespeak an irreverent iconoclasm and profane dissent for the sake of notoriety, they contradict my conscious motives."² Echoing Long's challenge, Jones intends to call black theologians to account for the images of god they have constructed.

DOI: 10.1057/9780230118713_5

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