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APA Newsletters Volume 12, Number 2 Spring 2013 NEWSLETTER ON PHILOSOPHY AND THE BLACK EXPERIENCE FROM THE EDITORS, John Mcclendon & GeorGe YancY ARTICLES GeorGe YancY “The Honor Was All Mine: A Conversation with William R. Jones” lewis r. Gordon “Remembering William R. Jones (1933–2012): Philosopher and Freedom Fighter” stephen c. FerGuson ii “On the Occasion of William R. Jones’s Death: Remembering the Feuerbachian Tradition in African-American Social Thought” J. everet Green “William R. Jones: Philosophical Theologian Extraordinaire of the Twentieth Century” BrittanY l. o’neal “William R. Jones’s Humanocentric Theism: Reconceptualizing the Black Religious Experience” KiMBerlY a. harris “The Legitimacy of Black Philosophy” © 2013 by The American Philosophical Association ISSN 2155-9708 John h. Mcclendon “Dr. William Ronald Jones (July 17, 1933–July 13, 2012): On the Legacy of the Late ‘Dean’ of Contemporary African American Philosophers” BOOK REVIEWS James Cone: The Cross and the Lynching Tree reviewed by tiMothY Joseph Golden George Yancy, ed.: Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do? reviewed by Jessica patella KoniG John H. McClendon III and Stephen C. Ferguson II: Beyond the White Shadow: Philosophy, Sports, and the African American Experience reviewed by FloYd w. haYes iii Robert Birt, ed.: The Liberatory Thought of Martin Luther King Jr.: Critical Essays on the Philosopher King reviewed by chiKe JeFFers George Yancy and Janine Jones, eds.: “If We Must Die, Let It Not Be . .” A Review of Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics reviewed by Michelle v. rowleY Jacqueline Scott and A. Todd Franklin: Critical Affinities: Nietzsche and African American Thought reviewed by chris MountenaY CONTRIBUTOR NOTES APA Newsletter oN Philosophy and the Black Experience John McClendon & George Yancy, Co-Editors Spring 2013 Volume 12, Number 2 metaphilosophical implications. Dr. John H. McClendon III, in his rom the ditors “Dr. William Ronald Jones (July 17, 1933–July 13, 2012) On the F e Legacy of the Late ‘Dean’ of Contemporary African American Philosophers,” offers a personal and historical account of Dr. Jones’s legacy. McClendon argues that Jones stands at the apex As co-editors, it is with a deep sense of sadness and yet with of the African American philosophical tradition both as a scholar abiding honor that we dedicate this issue of the APA Newsletter and activist, and thus deserves the honor of “Dean.” on Philosophy and the Black Experience (spring issue, 2013) In this issue, we are also delighted to include six book to the memory and legacy of the late Dr. William R. Jones. It reviews. Tim Golden reviews James Cone’s The Cross and the was actually our intention to devote a special issue to Dr. Jones Lynching Tree; Jessica Patella Konig reviews George Yancy’s over two years ago; however, he was intent on revising and Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do?; Floyd reformulating his ideas and the project never came to fruition. Hayes reviews John H. McClendon and Stephen C. Ferguson’s In the next issue of the newsletter, we intend to continue our Beyond the White Shadow: Philosophy, Sports, and the African efforts to acknowledge the philosophical heritage that Jones American Experience; Chike Jeffers reviews Robert Birt’s The has provided. Liberatory Thought of Martin Luther King Jr.: Critical Essays on Our contributors in this issue span the generational the Philosopher King; Michelle V. Rowley reviews George Yancy spectrum of African American philosophers and students and Janine Jones’s Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts of philosophy and we greatly appreciate their insightful and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics; and, contributions toward honoring the memory and thought of Dr. Chris Mountenay reviews Jacqueline Scott and Todd Franklin’s Jones. In “The Honor Was All Mine: A Conversation with William R. Critical Affinities: Nietzsche and African American Thought. Jones,” Dr. George Yancy briefly reflects on his richly textured 1996 conversation with William R. Jones, which is followed by the interview that has never before been published. Dr. Lewis R. Gordon, in his “Remembering William R. Jones (1933–2012): Philosopher and Freedom Fighter,” provides a personal Articles and moving remembrance of Bill Jones. Gordon’s reflective piece beautifully captures the spirit of love and freedom that Jones embodied and provides a context for understanding The Honor Was All Mine: A Conversation with the philosophical, humanist, and theological magnitude of William R. Jones Jones’s thought. Dr. Stephen C. Ferguson II, in his essay “On the Occasion of William R. Jones’s Death: Remembering the George Yancy Feuerbachian Tradition in African-American Social Thought,” Duquesne University astutely situates Jones’s philosophical work within the context of African American philosophical tradition and alerts us to The following is part of a larger conversation that took place in how the Feuerbachian Tradition in German philosophy is 1996 with Dr. William R. Jones (1933–2012). The conversation apropos in the assessment of Jones’s philosophy of religion. Dr. was synoptic in scope, covering fragments from his childhood, J. Everet Green’s “William R. Jones: Philosophical Theologian his interest in philosophy, Blacks in the field of philosophy, Extraordinaire of the Twentieth Century” introduces us to how the Committee on Blacks in Philosophy, racism, theodicy and Jones was a formidable thinker in the context of twentieth- Christian theism, Black theology, and oppression, the last of century philosophical theology and Africana thought. Dr. Greene which shaped the driving theme to which Jones dedicated his was a student of Dr. Roy D. Morrison II, who in turn was not only life to understand and eradicate. a very close friend of Jones but also a co-worker in the field Like his Black heroine Harriet Tubman (1820–1913), Jones of philosophical theology. Green shares with us his personal was compelled to continue in his liberation efforts. For Jones, vision of the intellectual landscape that frames Jones’s legacy there was no justification to discontinue. Liberation struggle, in philosophical theology. Ms. Brittany L. O’Neal’s “William R. for him, took place within the context of history, on the plane, Jones’s Humanocentric Theism: Reconceptualizing the Black as it were, of existential suffering and social praxis. No matter Religious Experience” continues the discussion on the import the truth or falsity of the vertical theistic/metaphysical claims of Jones’s magnum opus, Is God a White Racist? by locating made by theologians regarding the existence of God, Jones was its significance for reconceptualizing Black religion in non- clear that it was our responsibility to wage struggle against the theistic terms in contrast to classical theism. Ms. Kimberly A. multiple forms of oppression experienced by human beings. In Harris, in her “The Legitimacy of Black Philosophy,” provides short, then, his “theism” did not mitigate his humanist drive to a critical assessment of Jones’s seminal contributions to the change the world for the better. His “humanocentric theism” affirmation of Black philosophy as an academic pursuit and its is conceptually consistent with the need and responsibility — APA Newsletter, Spring 2013, Volume 12, Number 2 — for human beings to transform destructive forms of historical my two sisters got an education rather than operating within the repetition, to dismantle structures of oppression, and to attack framework of “who had the best potential.” So, I had decided manifestations of social evil wherever they are found. to try to get into the armed services and then get some money When talking with Jones, one got the impression that and go on the GI Bill. But one morning I went to school and I there is so much more to be done, so much more social evil hadn’t studied for a chemistry exam and our homeroom teacher that needed to be eradicated. One also got the sense that the told us that there was a representative from Howard who was effort to fight for a better world is one’s personal responsibility, there to give this national competitive scholarship exam. The a responsibility that one bears despite the fact that one is exam was scheduled at the same time the chemistry test was always already born in medias res, in the very middle of the going to be given. If you took the scholarship exam you would drama of human existence. Indeed, we participate (both miss the chemistry exam that day. So that’s what I did. I took the directly and indirectly) in the interdependent matrix of social, scholarship exam because I wasn’t quite ready for my chemistry political, economic, and psychological forces that oppress so examination. And I won a national competitive scholarship. It many. And while it would be false to say that we all engage in was a four-year scholarship, a thousand dollars per year, and acts of oppression in the same ways or that we all experience that thousand dollars covered your tuition, room and board, and oppression in the same ways, it is true, nevertheless, that there was a little left for books. My education was essentially our duty is to locate where and how we oppress others and paid for all the way through. to seek out ways of challenging and undoing those forms of YANCY: When did you decide that you wanted to study oppression. philosophy? This was partly what was so profound and didactic when JONES: Well, I went to Howard to study engineering. You know talking with Jones. He forced me to confront my own bad faith, they give you these aptitude tests and I did well in math, and so something he did with passion and sometimes tears. Out of all engineering came up as one of the things that they said I was the interviews that I have done, it was with Jones that I was, suited for.