Abstract
At the end of 2009, James Cameron released the film Avatar, which would become the highest grossing film in history. Four weeks prior, at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, representatives of the religious academy celebrated the fortieth anniversary of James Cone’s Black Theology & Black Power by granting him the Martin Marty award for the Public Understanding of Religion. The film Avatar and the work of Cone share a common call for liberation. Both are concerned with the material and historical liberation of persons subject to particular instances of systemically enforced suffering.1 In addition, both Cameron and Cone’s projects are theological. They both locate God(dess) as existing among oppressed peoples, suffering with them and siding with them in fighting against their oppressors and for their liberation.
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© 2013 Thia Cooper
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Kirk, J.I. (2013). Popular Messianism, Complicity, and the Continued Relevance of Liberation Theology. In: Cooper, T. (eds) The Reemergence of Liberation Theologies. New Approaches to Religion and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137311825_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137311825_17
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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