Reading While Black, by Esau McCaulley

Book cover. Image source: ChristianBook.com

As I said in my previous post, I’m finally done with my Master’s degree, and that now allows me to read the books that I choose. It turned out that this, as the first book I read after graduation, is also the best book I read in 2020 by far, given the relevance of the subject in current times. For those who don’t know, Esau McCaulley is a PhD in New Testament studies and had N. T. Wright as advisor for his doctorate. This is a clear example of what I tried to argue in my last post, Do not read only white men in the new year: you do not need to read authors “only because they are black,” but if you look intentionally for people of diverse backgrounds, you still end up with a top notch list of authors.

As always, this does not intend to be a full book summary, but only to cover the parts of the book that caught my attention the most.

Making Space for Black Ecclesial Interpretation

The author starts his first chapter by explaining the background of what he calls “Black Ecclesial Interpretation.” This started with some internal conflicts he had between the hip hop music and his mother’s gospel music. While the first felt much more related to his daily life and touched topics like the violence in the community and discrimination from the police, the latter was the only one that offered some hope for this world of despair:

The struggle I speak of is not merely between two genres of music. I am referring to the struggle between Black nihilism and Black hope. I am speaking of the ways in which the Christian tradition fights for and makes room for hope in a world that tempts us toward despair. I contend that a key element in this fight for hope in our community has been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation coming out of the Black church, what I am calling Black ecclesial interpretation. (p. 3)

Then, he continues to answer the question of how does black theology relate to the lives of black people. It is clear from McCaulley that the Black church must bring their answers from the Bible, and that it has been largely orthodox in its general tradition. At the same time, they have been crushed between white progressives and white evangelicals in order to reconcile the struggles of the Black community with their faithfulness to Scripture.

Progressives (mainline Protestants) rejected the centrality of the Bible since it had been used to inflict harm on Black people. However, as he correctly points out: “If the Bible needs to be rejected to free Black Christians, then such a view seems to entail that the fundamentalists had interpreted the Bible correctly” (p. 9).

On the other hand, evangelicals emphasized the authority of the Bible, but they told Black Christians to reject the social gospel, and that they “should look to the golden age of theology, either at the early years of this country or during the postwar boom of American” (p. 11). The problem with that argument is that these “golden age” years of theology coincide with the worst years of Black freedom.

Reconciling the social gospel with solid theology

Despite the portrait of black theology as being corrupted by the social gospel, according to the author, it is possible to reconcile both: “while I appreciated the doctrinal emphasis on Scripture within evangelicalism, I needed more to feel whole and complete as a Christian. I felt a strong call to dig deep into the roots of the Black Christian tradition to help me navigate the complexities of Black existence in the United States” (p. 13). Again, the author will point out the problems in the white progressive and conservative sides and how each side patronizes Black Ecclesial interpreters:

There is a well-worn path of Black affirmation in white conservative spaces if one is willing to denigrate Black theology (and the Black church) full stop. But the converse also occurs, namely that white progressives have often weaponized Black progressive voices and depicted them as the totality of the Black Christian tradition for reasons that suit their own purposes, which have little to do with the actual concerns of Black Christians. What I am suggesting is an ongoing discussion among Black Christians where neither partner is presumed to be arguing in bad faith or merely puppeting white voices. (p. 15–16)

Now, the author will actually introduce the key elements of this Black Ecclesial Interpretation, especially as it relates to the practice of Bible reading (what you could call Black or African American Hermeneutics).

The first point is the paradigmatic aspect of the redemption of Israel in their understanding of God’s character: “They claimed that God is fundamentally a liberator. The character of Jesus, who though innocent suffered unjustly at the hands of an empire, resonated on a deep level with the plight of the enslaved Black person” (p. 17). Since they had experiences fundamentally different from their masters, this also caused them to read the Bible differently. So, it is necessary to ask whether they read their own thoughts into the Bible, or interpreted the Bible in a different, but true, way.

It is not the case that Blacks uniquely emphasized certain passages and read other Scriptures in light of them; what was unique was what enslaved Black people emphasized. They emphasized God as the liberator and humankind as one family united under the rule of Christ whose death for sins reconciles us to God. To put it more pointedly, I contend that the enslaved reading of the exodus as paradigmatic for understanding God’s character was more faithful to the biblical text than those who began with the Pauline slave passages. (p. 18–19)

McCaulley continues to point out that this early interpretation was canonical, i.e. it did not put certain parts of the Bible above others and did not create a canon within the canon; it placed the themes found in Scripture “in conversation with the hopes and dreams of Black folks” (p. 19). It is also a deeply theological interpretation, since it reads the texts in light of their doctrine of God (as liberator), their beliefs about humanity (all equal), and their understanding of salvation (Jesus reconciles us with God).

Thus, the author states: “I propose that dialogue, rooted in core theological principles, between the Black experience and the Bible has been the model and needs to be carried forward into our day” (p. 20). The inevitable question comes up: can you use your previous experience to help you read the Bible in an orthodox way?

It is important to recognize that white Christians have always used their experience to interpret the Bible, even if some do not recognize. But the New Testament scholar continues:

The dialogue goes both ways. If our experiences pose particular and unique questions to the Scriptures, then the Scriptures also pose unique questions to us. Although there are some experiences that are common to humanity, there are also some ways in which the Bible will pose particular challenges to African Americans. … Although I believe we must engage in a dialogue with the text, I acknowledge that ultimately the Word of God speaks the final word. (p. 20)

It is clear from this quote that the author believes in the authority of Scripture. He does not argue in any way that the truth of the text depends on the person that is reading, which would be a form of epistemological relativism. On the contrary, Esau McCaulley tries to rescue a faithful and orthodox reading of Scripture, while keeping our eyes open to the circumstances that hinder the lives of African Americans in the US.

My claim then is that Black biblical interpretation has been and can be (1) unapologetically canonical and theological. (2) socially located, in that it clearly arises out of the particular context of Black Americans. (3) willing to listen to the ways in which the Scriptures themselves respond to and redirect Black issues and concerns. (4) willing to exercise patience with the text trusting that a careful and sympathetic reading of the text brings a blessing. (5) willing to listen to and enter into dialogue with Black and white critiques of the Bible in the hopes of achieving a better reading of the text. (p. 21)

In the following chapters (2 to 7), he dives into Biblical Theology and Hermeneutics applied to specific issues that the African American community faces in the US. It is really interesting to see how he applies what is explained in the first chapter, and his knowledge of New Testament studies, given his experience of being advised by N. T. Wright. I’ll not write about the details of each of these topics, because they are really hard to summarize shortly and would make this post very long, but I’ll add a set of questions that are present in the conclusion to outline what each of these chapters are trying to answer (pp. 165–166):

• Does the Bible have a word to say about the creation of a just society in which Black people can flourish free of oppression?
• Does the Bible speak to the issue of policing — that constant source of fear in the Black community?
• Does the Bible provide us with the warrant to protest injustice when we encounter it?
• Does the Bible value our ethnic identity? Does God love our blackness?
• What shall we do about the pain and rage that comes with being Black in this country?
• What about slavery? Did the God of the Bible sanction what happened to us?

Further reading

I plan to add this section to all my “book summary” posts with books and authors that are cited frequently or used as foundation for some of the arguments, where we can go to learn even more about this topic. This is not an endorsement of any of these books. I probably didn’t read any of them. At the same time, I hope this is useful for you and me to help compile a list of possible next readings to focus, if we want to dive deeper in the topic.

• Brian K. Blount, Then the Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001).
• Brian K. Blount, ed., True to Our Native Land: An African American Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007).
• Michael Joseph Brown, The Blackening of the Bible: The Aims of African American Biblical Scholarship (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2004).
• Allen Dwight Callahan, The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006).
• James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, 40th Anniversary Edition (New York: Orbis Books, 1970).
• James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2013).
• Frederick Douglass, The Life of an American Slave (Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845).
• Cain Hope Felder, ed., Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1991).
• Mitzi Smith, Insights from African American Interpretation (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017).
• James M. Washington, ed., I Have a Dream: Speeches and Writings that Changed the World (New York: HarperCollins, 1992).

Please, comment below or reply on Twitter on what you thought about this post and book. Tell me if you have read or plan to read the book and what your thoughts are on the topic. Feel free to disagree respectfully and to suggest more content that will help in the discussion.

Let me know what is the type of content that you would like to see more here. I hope to have more book summaries as well as essay-style posts more frequently on this blog.