Talking about James Cone

This next week in class we are going to talk a bit about James Cone. Cone is the father of Black Liberation Theology. He is the author of such books as Black Theology and Black Power (1969),The Spirituals and The Blues (1972), and God of the Oppressed (1975).

Below is an interview with Bill Moyers where Cone is discussing his most recent book, The Cross and The Lynching Tree (2011). We will discuss from about min. 26th to 33.42 (or so). 

A few questions to think about:

• What is love in light of the American history of lynching? 
• How are love and forgiveness connected for Cone?
• What is the Beloved Community? Do you think it is possible?

Bill Moyers Journal: James H. Cone from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.


Here is a link to this same interview, with a full transcript: 

• Bill Moyers & James Cone, PBS, November 23, 2007. 

Shalom as the New Economy: Makoto Fujimura

Here is a talk from 2010 by Makoto Fujimura about Shalom and success, especially as an artist. In essence, what does it mean to follow the call of the artist and follow the call of Jesus? Shalom is not an easy category to really understand. I love the complexity of the call of Shalom. As Fujimura asks early on the talk, "what is the deepest realm we can get to when questioning success? ... we wake up and we are 40 or 50 and [wonder] 'I've done all that I have and thought I could attain, and yet there is no sense in me of fulfillment. Why did I quest... after success? Why did I quest after these things?' and you end up really [being] alienated from yourself." So, in the end, this vision of Shalom is not just about the artist, it is about the art of living. It is about what we give up or sell off to be successful without ever really knowing what success means in our lives. We realize that we never asked the right questions when we were deciding what way our lives would go...

• Makoto Fujimura on redefining success in the context of Shalom

Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap is the other artist that will be performing with us this Friday at Benaroya Hall. I have to admit that I really love these songs, so atmospheric, so affecting .... We'll be doing them live on Friday...

Children's Hospital Benefit Concert This Week!

This Friday, November 8th, the Northwest Symphony will join Mateo Messina (a Grammy Award winning film composer) and the Symphony Guild for a benefit concert at Benaroya Hall. This is the 16th year that Messina has organized and written a symphony (really an all out event!) in order to raise money for uncompensated care at the Seattle Children's Hospital. Every year that I have played has been extraordinary and unexpected - often feeling bigger than life. There are always bands and artists and dancers and etc., etc....

I just found out that this year one of the groups we'll be playing with is Pomplamoose, so I thought I would share a few of their videos. All that to say, come out and support the kids at Children's Hospital...

Some of their covers:



One of their original songs: