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
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... give peace in the land . . . five of you shall chase an hundred and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight” (Lev. 26:3–8). The African Church of Charleston, South Carolina, was a congregation of black Methodists founded in ...
... Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: and praise the everlasting King, that his Tabernacle may be builded in thee again with joy: and let him make joyful there in thee, those that are captives, and love in thee for ever those that ...
... give him some instructions about handling the text.”37 Even with these liturgical devices to accommodate them, slaves were not content with illiterate worship in a religion of the Book. In the contradiction between American ...
... give one cent toward this doubtful scheme.”3 Douglass and Garnet were both African Americans. Both had escaped slavery from Maryland's Eastern Shore. But their respective experiences of slavery, literacy, and religion — and so their ...
... give God's imprimatur to armed violence, genocide, and even the slaughter of noncombatants. Yet the most grandiose vision of global peace, heralding the abolition of weapons of mass destruction everywhere and for all time, comes from a ...
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
41 | |
49 | |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |