Reading While Black, Esau McCaulley
Reading While Black, Esau McCaulley
6 Rating(s)
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

Reading While Black
African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope

Author: Esau McCaulley

Narrator: Esau McCaulley

Unabridged: 5 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/22/2020


Synopsis

Growing up in the American South, Esau McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say.

At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar 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. He advocates 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. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery.

About Esau McCaulley

Esau McCaulley is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He is the author of Reading While Black and Sharing in the Son's Inheritance, as well as the children's book Josie Johnson's Hair and the Holy Spirit. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife and four children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matt

I didn't know what to expect going into this book. Was I part of the intended audience? Would it be more about political ideology than biblical reflection? Well, as evidenced by my five stars, I was thoroughly impressed. One need not agree with McCaulley’s every statement (I didn’t) to acknowledge a......more

Goodreads review by Raymond

How does the Black American experience fit into the Bible? At first glance it may not seem like it does. American history has shown that the Bible has been used to promote slavery, segregation, and Black inferiority. To some Black Americans, reading the Bible may seem like an exercise in despair and......more

Goodreads review by Carmen

Esau McCaulley is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, an ordained Anglican priest, and a fellow board member of the Institute for Biblical Research. I'm guessing that he wrote Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope (IVP, 2020) with Black reade......more

Goodreads review by Jared

Excellent. The chapter surveying the biblical teaching on slavery is especially worth the read.......more

Goodreads review by Andrew

My goodness. Where do I begin? Reading While Black has given me the much-needed reminder of the necessity of listening to, learning from, and amplifying diverse voices in theological method. This is not a book that I will read once only to discard it to my bookshelf. No – this is a book that I will......more