In the development of black theology, James H. Cone's God of the Oppressed remains a landmark the first effort to present a systematic theology drawing fully on the resources of African American religion and culture. Responding to the criticism that his previous books drew too heavily on Euro American definitions of the theology, Cone went back to his experience of the black church in Bearden, Arkansas, the tradition of the spirituals and black folklore, and the black history of struggle and survival, to construct a new approach to the Christian gospel. In his reflections on God, Jesus suffering and liberation, Cone relates the gospel message to the experience of the black community. But a wider theme of the book is the role that social and historical context plays in framing the questions we address to God, as well as the mode of the answers provided.