What's the Use? A Black Queer (Critical) Appreciation of Karl Barth

This paper aims to buck a disturbing trend among Black liberation theologians, namely, that they hastily jettison engagement with Karl Barth's thought. It argues that James H. Cone, the pioneering member of Black liberation theology, was right to draw on Barth, and in so doing, the early Cone alerts readers to an often-unnoticed liberative potential of Barth’s theology. Despite his shortcomings, this paper argues that Barth proves useful for Black queer liberative ends. But this paper is not merely an apologia although it is indeed that. By drawing insights from queer theorist Sara Ahmed and theologian Hanna Reichel, this paper aims to tease out what makes Karl Barth—or any thinker for that matter—useful along with the affordances Barth’s Christological perspectives offer Black queer theological reflection.