Bishop Dr Joe Aldred’s book, Flourishing in Babylon: Black British Agency and Self-Determination is a fresh exploration of the Black British experience. Aldred deploys Jeremiah 29 as the theological lens for his thesis wherein he encourages the black community to pursue our own flourishing amidst racism of all kinds, much like the struggles exiles in Babylon no doubt faced within the biblical narrative.
Agency is at the heart of Flourishing, compellingly defined as rooted in the Imago Dei. As people made in the image of God, and thereby possessing inherent dignity because of their Creator, black people in Britain have all we need to take our future in our hands. Aldred argues that permission must not be sought from white allies and that deference to white rescue is an affront to black self-determination. Some may wince at such agency which, according to Aldred, needs to be thick-skinned and more resilient to trivial distractions such as ‘microaggressions’.
Stridently written, Aldred acknowledges and condemns slavery, Jim Crow, colonisation, Windrush discrimination, and present-day racial inequalities. He also raises a challenge to Black Liberation Theology and its distance from the broadly (but no doubt changing in the face of Western secularism) conservative theology of many black Christians and churchgoers. Aldred provides a welcome interrogation of this disparity, whereby Black Theology in the academic world can sometimes look upon the faith and theological convictions of ‘everyday’ black Christians with condescension.
For me, perhaps Aldred goes a step too far in his conception of God as an ‘impotent… divine accompanying presence’. In his concluding thoughts and commission to black Britons to determine our own destiny rather than wait for white salvation, God’s seeming ‘impotence’ is Aldred’s response to the lack of intervention by God through years of enslavement and colonisation. To argue that God was only present as an accompanying power during black suffering, seems to domesticate the divine and undermine the significance of moral evil – the agency and free will of enslavers/colonisers – when tackling theodicy.
Overall, Flourishing is a thought-provoking, much-needed counterpoint to some of the presuppositions of mainstream Black Theology. Aldred’s voice is one of wisdom and insight, challenging the status quo. His work is a rallying call to the Black British church to engage spiritually, politically and economically for the growth and prosperity of the black diaspora.
Clare Williams is a speaker and thinker who engages with Christian apologetics, particularly questions about justice, race and faith from the black community. She has a degree in English Literature and Language from Oxford University and completed studies in Theology at Wycliffe Hall. Clare is currently a PhD Sociology student at The University of Westminster. Follow Clare on social media at @realquestionsuk on all platforms.