Edwards, associate professor of New Testament at North Park University
Reading While Black is a welcome addition to the study of African American hermeneutics.” -Dennis R. McCaulley gives us more than a theoretical methodology he demonstrates how we can approach and apply texts―even ones that were previously used against us―without jettisoning our faith or succumbing to oppressive readings. In Reading While Black, McCaulley does careful exegetical and historical analysis, explaining and illustrating how interpretations of Scripture by Black people can bolster faith in a liberating God. Along the way, many of us have rejected white supremacist readings of the Bible while clinging to the God of the Bible. “Although the African American Christian experience is not monolithic, we have generally sought to understand the Bible and live according to its teachings. Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:
Ultimately, McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others.Įsau McCaulley was also recently involved in an event where he discussed Reading While Black with a number of other participants. Now he continues to advocate for that hope, and for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and, at times, reshaping Black concerns. He discovered that a key element in the fight for hope was the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. Growing up in the American South, McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but McCaulley insists it has something vital to say. In this book, New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times.
African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in HopeĪt a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.
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