An Analysis of the Message of the Negro Spriituals Withing the Conext of Jurgen Moltmann's Theology of Hope
Graduation Date
Spring 2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Harlan Stelmach, PhD
Second Reader
Craig Singleton, MA
Abstract
This thesis analyzes the message contained in selected Negro Spirituals (songs composed by enslaved Africans during the antebellum period of American history) within the context of Jurgen Moltmann’s concept of the theology of hope. Moltmann, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tubingen in Germany, places hope within the framework of Christian eschatology (the doctrine of last things). This context embraces the idea not only of the object hoped for but also the hope inspired by it and in doing so gives hope a dynamic paradigm because it looks seriously at the possibilities contained in our present reality; it establishes a hope for the future that begins in the present. This is the point of connection between Moltmann’s theology and the message found in such Spirituals as “Oh Freedom”, “Go, Down Moses”, “Steal Away” and many others. The words of the Negro Spirituals evidence the same realized eschatology of Moltmann’s theology of hope.