The Talking Book: African Americans and the BibleYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 295 pages A striking narrative of the Bible’s central role in African-American history from the early days of slavery to the present The Talking Book casts the Bible as the central character in a vivid portrait of black America, tracing the origins of African-American culture from slavery’s secluded forest prayer meetings to the bright lights and bold style of today’s hip-hop artists. The Bible has profoundly influenced African Americans throughout history. From a variety of perspectives this wide-ranging book is the first to explore the Bible’s role in the triumph of the black experience. Using the Bible as a foundation, African Americans shared religious beliefs, created their own music, and shaped the ultimate key to their freedom—literacy. Allen Callahan highlights the intersection of biblical images with African-American music, politics, religion, art, and literature. The author tells a moving story of a biblically informed African-American culture, identifying four major biblical images—Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel. He brings these themes to life in a unique African-American history that grows from the harsh experience of slavery into a rich culture that endures as one of the most important forces of twenty-first-century America. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 43
... experience of God.3 Unmediated access to the Bible was an Evangelical imperative. Thus for Evangelicals, read- ing became a matter of religion. Leaders of the early-nineteenth-century American public school movement were Evangelical ...
... mistress read the Bible aloud , and it was this experience , as he later wrote in his autobiography , that “ roused in me the desire to learn . ” " 25 Later Douglass would complain that under the slave regime “ THE TALKING BOOK 9.
... experience more stirring than that of conventional Anglican liturgy , but the liturgical form was also shaped by the exigencies of illiterate worship.34 Elizabeth Botume was among the abolitionists , missionaries , teach- THE TALKING BOOK ...
... experience with the literacy of his captors. [My master] used to read prayers in public to the ship's crew every Sabbath day; and when I first saw him read, I was never so surprised in my life, as when I saw the book talk to my mas- ter ...
... experience , “ It was a whole race of people trying to go to school . " 60 African Americans were learning en masse to read the Bible as a book both opened and closed . As the Word of God , it spoke to them with words that lent a new ...
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
41 | |
49 | |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |