If God Still Breathes, Why Can't I?: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority

by Angela N. Parker

If the first five hundred years after the Reformation was about the democratization of our faith, then the work of the next five hundred years will be its decolonization.

This book examines inerrancy and infallibility as tools of White supremacist authoritarianism that limit humanity’s capacity to fully experience God’s breath in the biblical text.

Has your own identity been disparaged through others’ reading of the Bible in such a way that you have never wanted to read the Bible again?

In essence, I am pondering how the act of “preaching to” has shifted many congregants away from “conversations with” pastors and even with the biblical text.

Mature people engage the complexity of the biblical text as it points us to the presence of God without it becoming God or an idol.

Because the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility are designed to protect the idea of Scripture being free from error and from failing to accomplish its predetermined purpose, they act as tools of control for the people who normally have the most power over deciding the “proper” readings of Scripture. These people tend to be a certain group: White male biblical scholars.

Specifically, if community members assume shared views about inerrancy and infallibility and what these ideas mean for community formation, what happens if such ideas are detrimental to the identity of some members of the community?

Bring the Voices of My People (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019),

Second, even as I argue throughout this book that White supremacist authoritarianism must be dismantled, that does not mean I dismantle and demonize all White men. Hear me well! I hope to be a person who can lead and do the things I care about doing in a way that will compel others, including White men, to join me.

Dr. Clarice P. Martin, Dr. Renita Weems, Dr. Mitzi Smith, Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, Dr. Wilda Gafney, Dr. Kimberly Russaw, Dr. Shanell Smith, Dr. Shively T. J. Smith, Dr. Bridgett Green, Dr. Vanessa Lovelace, Dr. Stephanie Buchanan Crowder, Dr. Cheryl Anderson, Dr. Febbie Dickerson, Dr. Love Sechrest, Dr. Marlene Underwood, Dr. Gay Byron, Dr. Stacy Davis, Dr. Lisa Bowens, Rev. Dr. Raquel Lettisome, Dr. Ericka Dunbar, Rev. Dr. Madeline McClenney-Sadler, Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp, Minenhle Nomalungelo Khumalo, and Rev. Yolanda Norton. I also recommend the works of Dr. Margaret Aymer, Dr. Jennifer Kaalund, and Dr. Nyasha Junior as women who contribute to Womanist biblical interpretation but may not specifically identify as Womanist. I also ask that you read the work of our late Womanist sister Dr. Lynne St. Clair Darden. For international South African Womanist readings, please engage the work of Dr. Madipoane Masenya at the University of South Africa. Finally, as we say in the Black church tradition, “If I have omitted anyone, please charge it to my head and not to my heart.” This list comprises biblical scholars who have pursued or who are pursuing a PhD in Hebrew or New Testament. There also many talented Womanist theologians, such as Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes,