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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... slavery and bib- lical interpretation. The chapter on Exile elaborates on thinking reflected in essays I wrote treating the biblical figures Nehemiah and Ezekiel and in a lecture on the biblical imagery of Babylon that I delivered in ...
... slavery's children . The evidence is everywhere in African - American culture . In black churches , of course ... slaves and their descendants have taken the texts of the Bible in every sense of the word : embraced them , endured them ...
... slavery's children found “such compelling images” to live by, that they might not perish in the howling wilderness of America. American slaves did not read the Bible through, or even over and against, the traditions they brought with ...
... Slavery's children entered history from below : from their straitened vantage they came to see in the holy ... slaves stage a spectacular escape , the military might of an empire and their deep - seated fear of freedom notwithstand- ing ...
... slaves and their descendants discerned something in the Bible that was neither at the center of their ancestral ... slavery's children found that justice at the center of the Bible. CHAPTER ONE The Talking Book And I longed to read ...
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
41 | |
49 | |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |