This is a short course on interpretation, specifically African American interpretation of the Bible. The goal of the course is to introduce the student to one method of contextual interpretation that will open up the possibility for exploring it more in-depth, or provide a foundation for the study or incorporation of other methods of biblical interpretation. This course begins with the conviction that all knowledge is perspectival. That is, how we access and interpret texts (and reality for that matter) has to do with a complex combination of factors, including ethnicity, that constitute who we are at one particular instance in time.
This course has the following Candler curricular goals in mind:
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•Grounding in Christian texts, traditions, theologies, and practices;
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•Knowledge and experience of a multi-ethnic, intercultural, ecumenical, and religiously diverse world; and
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•Skills in critical and imaginative thinking, responsible interpretation, effective communication.
Required Texts
Brian K. Blount et al. (eds.), True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary
Michael Joseph Brown, Blackening of the Bible: The Aims of African American Biblical Scholarship
Brad Ronnell Braxton, No Longer Slaves: Galatians and African American Experience
Allen Callahan, The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible
Cain Hope Felder, Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family
Cain Hope Felder (ed.), Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation
Demetrius Williams, An End to this Strife: The Politics of Gender in African American Churches
BI 617
AFRICAN AMERICAN BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
Get a copy of the course syllabus: BI 617 Af Am Biblical Interpretation.pdf
To access the student only website: click here.
To contact Dr. Brown about the course, click here.
Course Description
