African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Structures [Paperback]

Vincent L. Wimbush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0826413765 | ISBN-13: 978-0826413765

A unique study of how the Bible "constructs" African Americans and how African Americans "construct" the bibleFrom literature and the arts to popular culture and everyday life, the Bible courses through black society and culture. Despite the enormous recent surge of interest in African American religion, scant attention has been paid to the diversity of ways in which African Americans have utilized the Bible. African Americans and the Bible is 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 and also music, film, dance, drama, and literature. 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 construct a text. It is about a particular socio-cultural formation but also about the dynamics that occur in the interrelation between any group of people and sacred texts in general. African Americans and the Bible offers a critical lens through which the process of socio-cultural formation can be viewed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A broad-ranging exploration of the ways the African American group and the Bible have interacted in history and '(re)created' each other; it provides a thorough, multifaceted examination of this process in terms of cultural anthropology. It also hints at new critical parameters, like marronage, through which socio-cultural formation can be approached and assessed. A magnificent and inspiring collection, set in a lively perspective."-Geneviève E. Fabre, University of Paris

"Finally we have a resource that dismantles the sacred cows of modern biblical criticism and shows them for the intellectual idols that they are. Wimbush has brought together voices from diverse fields that correctly take African American biblical hermeneutics from the margin to the exegetical center. The field of biblical studies should closely reexamine itself in light of African Americans and the Bible. The implications for other ethnic groups are immense."-Thomas B. Slater, The University of Georgia

"African Americans and the Bible is a provocative and challenging work whose impact on Biblical studies promises to be universally transformative. By demonstrating how powerfully the African American reading context changes and enlivens the written word, this exciting collection strikes out against the scholarly preference for presenting the Bible as an ancient artifact whose meaning dies with the authors who penned it. In the probing hands of these authors, the Bible reclaims its power as a living force for liberation whose past witness continually transforms, redefines, and reshapes the present. A broad and rich accomplishment."-Brian K. Blount, Princeton Theological Seminary

"This rich collection places African American biblical interpretation squarely in the center of biblical interpretation. It is a landmark hermeneutical work that should help to set the focus in biblical scholarship for years to come. Vincent Wimbush's challenge, not to begin with sacred texts, but with 'worlds,' is a brilliant contribution to the ongoing paradigm shift in biblical studies. Required reading for anyone engaged in biblical, cultural, and theological studies."-Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School

"A major accomplishment…An excellent collection of socio-cultural essays; particularly strong on how story shapes identity."—The Living Church, April 1

"This wide-ranging collection reflects on how the Bible is interpreted in African American communities and how it has shaped the African American religious experience."—Interpretation, July 2001

"A broad-ranging exploration of the ways the African American group and the Bible have interacted in history and '(re)created' each other; it provides a thorough, multifaceted examination of this process in terms of cultural anthropology. It also hints at new critical parameters, like marronage, through which socio-cultural formation can be approached and assessed. A magnificent and inspiring collection, set in a lively perspective."-Geneviève E. Fabre, University of Paris

"This rich collection places African American biblical interpretation squarely in the center of biblical interpretation. It is a landmark hermeneutical work that should help to set the focus in biblical scholarship for years to come. Vincent Wimbush's challenge, not to begin with sacred texts, but with 'worlds,' is a brilliant contribution to the ongoing paradigm shift in biblical studies. Required reading for anyone engaged in biblical, cultural, and theological studies."-Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School

About the Author

Vincent L. Wimbush is Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. He is the author of Paul the Worldly Ascetic; editor of Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook; Discursive Formations, Ascetic Piety, and The Interpretation of Early Christian Literature; and co-editor of Asceticism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (October 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826413765
• ISBN-13: 978-0826413765
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,578,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unpacking an on-going dialogue, February 7, 2001

By 

M. A. Oget "grittymar" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Structures (Hardcover)

Although African American studies classes often avoid the subject, and Bible scholars pretend there is no such reality, African Americans have been engaging that which has come to be known as the Holy Bible ever since the first slave was brought to the shores of the so-called "New World." Wimbush sees no reason to continue the uncomfortable silence. Instead, calling together experts from psychology, sociology, art history, religion, history, and other fields, Wimbush opens up a dialogue about the uneasy relationship between African Americans and the Bible. Scholars engage folks as disparate as W. E. B. DuBois, August Wilson, Digable Planets, and Orishatukeh Faduma. Subjects range widely, as much to expand the dialogue as to illuminate its breadth and depth. Make no mistake, this is not "easy reading." But regardless of your field, you will find this text richly informative. Do be sure to read the introductory essay and the explanatory essay by Barbara Holdredge. The former sets out the project; the latter details its implications, for at least one field. Also, be, clear, you will not find "Africans" of the Biblical world in this book. That is not the point. But if you are interested in this rich interaction, this book will wet your appetite for future explorations. Let the dialogue begin.