African Americans and the Bible

African Americans and the Bible
Author: Vincent L. Wimbush
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 913
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1610979648

Perhaps no other group of people has been as much formed by biblical texts and tropes as African Americans. From literature and the arts to popular culture and everyday life, the Bible courses through black society and culture like blood through veins. Despite the enormous recent interest in African American religion, relatively little attention has been paid to the diversity of ways in which African Americans have utilized the Bible.African Americans and the Bibleis the fruit of a four-year collaborative research project directed by Vincent L. Wimbush and funded by the Lilly Endowment. It brings together scholars and experts (sixty-eight in all) from a wide range of academic and artistic fields and disciplines--including ethnography, cultural history, and biblical studies as well as art, music, film, dance, drama, and literature. The focus is on the interaction between the people known as African Americans and that complex of visions, rhetorics, and ideologies known as the Bible. As such, the book is less about the meaning(s) of the Bible than about the Bible and meaning(s), less about the world(s) of the Bible than about how worlds and the Bible interact--in short, about how a text constructs a people and a people constructs a text. It is about a particular sociocultural formation but also about the dynamics that obtain in the interrelation between any group of people and sacred texts in general. ThusAfrican Americans and the Bibleprovides an exemplum of sociocultural formation and a critical lens through which the process of sociocultural formation can be viewed.

The Talking Book

The Talking Book
Author: Allen Dwight Callahan
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2008-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300137877

The Talking Book casts the Bible as the central character in a vivid portrait of black America, tracing the origins of African-American culture from slavery’s secluded forest prayer meetings to the bright lights and bold style of today’s hip-hop artists. The Bible has profoundly influenced African Americans throughout history. From a variety of perspectives this wide-ranging book is the first to explore the Bible’s role in the triumph of the black experience. Using the Bible as a foundation, African Americans shared religious beliefs, created their own music, and shaped the ultimate key to their freedom—literacy. Allen Callahan highlights the intersection of biblical images with African-American music, politics, religion, art, and literature. The author tells a moving story of a biblically informed African-American culture, identifying four major biblical images—Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel. He brings these themes to life in a unique African-American history that grows from the harsh experience of slavery into a rich culture that endures as one of the most important forces of twenty-first-century America.

Oneness Embraced

Oneness Embraced
Author: Tony Evans
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: African Americans
ISBN: 9780802412669

With the Bible as a guide and heaven as the goal, Oneness Embraced calls God's people to kingdom-focused unity. It tells us why we don't have it, what we need to get it, and what it will look like when we do. Mr. Evans weaves his own story into this word to the church.

The African American Guide to the Bible

The African American Guide to the Bible
Author: H.C. Felder
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2018-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1641140089

The African American Guide to the Bible makes the case for the relevance of the Bible from the perspective of people of color. It presents a comprehensive biblical view of topics of interest to African Americans and clarifies racial issues for white people. Part 1 addresses the inspiration of the Bible by giving evidence for its authenticity. A considerable amount of time is spent on examining the original text of the Bible, the archeological evidence, and the evidence from predictive prophecy to demonstrate the uniqueness of the Bible. Part 2 deals with the black presence in the Bible by demonstrating the prominence of people of color and black people in particular by highlighting their importance in the plan of God. It explains what it means to be black and demonstrates that the scientific and biblical evidence are both consistent with respect to race. Part 3 is a response to the arguments of racism used by critics of the Bible, for example, "Christianity is the white man's religion" and "Bible supports slavery and racism." These arguments are examined and evaluated in light of scripture and the context of history. Part 4 deals with the unity of humanity from a biblical perspective. It shows why racism is not only unbiblical but is evil when understood from the perspective of God.

The Bible is Black History

The Bible is Black History
Author: Theron D Williams
Publisher: Bible Is Black History Institute, LLC
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-08-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

We live in an age when younger African-American Christians are asking tough questions that previous generations would dare not ask. This generation doesn't hesitate to question the validity of the Scriptures, the efficacy of the church, and even the historicity of Jesus. Young people are becoming increasingly curious about what role, if any, did people of African descent play in biblical history? Or, if the Bible is devoid of Black presence, and is merely a book by Europeans, about Europeans and for Europeans to the exclusion of other races and ethnicities? Dr. Theron D. Williams makes a significant contribution to this conversation by answering the difficult questions this generation fearlessly poses. Dr. Williams uses facts from the Bible, well-respected historians, scientists, and DNA evidence to prove that Black people comprised the biblical Israelite community. He also shares historical images from the ancient catacombs that vividly depict the true likeness of the biblical Israelites. This book does not change the biblical text, but it will change how you understand it.This Second Edition provides updated information and further elucidation of key concepts. Also, at the encouragement of readership, this edition expands some of the ideas and addresses concerns my readership felt pertinent to this topic.

Reading While Black

Reading While Black
Author: Esau McCaulley
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830854878

Reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition can help us connect with a rich faith history and address the urgent issues of our times. Demonstrating an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley shares a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.

Blackening of the Bible

Blackening of the Bible
Author: Michael Joseph Brown
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2004-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567178684

Michael Brown offers an overview of the history of the development of African American and Afrocentric biblical interpretation. He then discusses how such scholarship began as an attempt to correct the biases African Americans perceived to be manifest in European and Euro-American biblical scholarship. This corrective, he says, quickly developed a life of its own, and Afrocentric biblical interpretation developed its own interpretive voice and style. Brown also examines Afrocentrism and the "blackening of the Bible," offering a critique of the color politics of Afrocentric criticism. He examines the evolution of womanism as a method of biblical interpretation, and explores and criticizes the ways that ideological and postcolonial criticism has contributed to Afrocentric biblical criticism. Finally, he presents the challenges he thinks confront the practice of such criticism, and he advances a new paradigm for the project that will put it in conversation with a wider audience of biblical scholars, classicists, historians, and theologians. Michael Joseph Brown is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of theology, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of What They Don't Tell You: A Survivor's Guide to Academic Biblical Studies and The Lord's Prayer through North African Eyes: A Window into Early Christianity.

How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind

How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
Author: Thomas C. Oden
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2010-07-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830837051

Thomas C. Oden surveys the decisive role of African Christians and theologians in shaping the doctrines and practices of the church of the first five centuries, and makes an impassioned plea for the rediscovery of that heritage. Christians throughout the world will benefit from this reclaiming of an important heritage.

The African-American Devotional Bible

The African-American Devotional Bible
Author:
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1997
Genre: African American families
ISBN: 9780310917830

Red letter Daily insights from prominent black church leaders 250 weekday and 52 weekend meditations Book introductions Choice of 3 reading plans JSubject index Articles History of denominations Biographies on contributors 1,472 pp.

True to Our Native Land, Second Edition

True to Our Native Land, Second Edition
Author: Brian K. Blount
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 1442
Release: 2024-10-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1506483011

True to Our Native Land is a pioneering commentary on the New Testament that sets biblical interpretation firmly in the context of African American experience and concern. In this second edition, the scholarship is cutting-edge, updated, and expanded to be in tune with African American culture, education, and churches. The book calls into question many canons of traditional biblical research and highlights the role of the Bible in African American history, accenting themes of ethnicity, class, slavery, and African heritage as these play a role in Christian Scripture and the Christian odyssey of an emancipated people.