Anthony B. Pinn is an American professor working at the intersections of African-American religion, constructive theology, and humanist thought.
"[5] In a 2002 interview, Pinn states that the Black Church, although in crisis, "has tremendous potential" for addressing the social justice issues that affect African Americans.
Citing the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Richard Wright, Pinn notes that Black humanism has no interest in disproving the existence of God.
In Why Lord?, Pinn seeks to critique various responses found within Black religion to the question of theodicy, or God's role in the suffering of humanity.
All theodicean arguments following the first approach are not useful in the struggle for the liberation of oppressed people because, to varying degrees, they all rely on the concept of redemptive suffering.
In 2017, Pinn published a book, When Colorblindness Isn't the Answer: Humanism and the Challenge of Race, on why humanists should embrace racial justice.
Examples from Black folk stories and jokes, spirituals, blues, rap, and political discourse form the basis of Pinn's work.
In his analysis of these diverse sources, Pinn employs what he terms "nitty-gritty hermeneutics," an approach to theological thought that is constructed from the hard realities of human experience, unconfined by a need to fit into preconceived Christian doctrines.
[7]: 20 In his analysis of often overtly Christian sources, Pinn finds meaningful support for the historical legitimacy of Black humanism.
[7]: 36 He quotes Daniel Payne, a leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who in 1839 wrote about the extent to which slaves, aware of the hypocrisy of their Christian masters, "distrust both the goodness and justice of God."
In Varieties of African-American Religious Experience, Pinn considers a wide range of non-Christian theological sources, including "Voodoo, Orisha devotion, Santeria, the Nation of Islam, and Black Humanism," and advocates a broader understanding of African-American "sources, norms, and doctrines" beyond the Protestant church.