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

by Esau McCaulley

On the whole these early Black Christians combined a strong affirmation of the need for personal salvation with varying levels of social action and resistance. This is readily understandable. If the Black Churches grew out of and in dialogue with the evangelical churches of the Great Awakening, it is not surprising that they would have a great affection for the Scriptures, even when they rejected the interpretations forced on them. All Christians are a part of one story and are in varying levels of dialogue with past and present interpretations. Christian communities do not spring into existence ex nihilo. The early Black church’s reorientation of the gospel to a more holistic and faithful witness than the one on offer by slaveholders is a manifestation of this ongoing conversation about the nature of the Christian faith.