Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope

McCaulley summarizes his advocacy for BEI in the wider biblical interpretation enterprise. BEI has a unique message of hope that provides a path forward for contemporary believers who seek guidance in biblical scripture. BEI is canonical and theological, located in the concerns of Black Christians, dialogical, and patient. It exists in songs, prayers, sermons, prayer meetings, around dinner tables, at gravesides, and in speeches.

To illustrate BEI’s ability to address pressing contemporary issues, McCaulley probes questions about how the Bible speaks to injustice, policing, ethnic identity, rage and suffering, and slavery. BEI demonstrates that not only is the Bible a source of comfort for Black Christians, but it also inspires action to transform unfavorable circumstances. McCaulley notes that his questions deserve greater scrutiny, so he hopes that he has provided a path for further engagement and charted the path forward for using the BEI method.

McCaulley provides an overview of Black biblical interpretation to ground his proposals in a historical and theological framework. He locates the mass conversion of enslaved Black people to Christianity in the Great Awakening of the mid-18th century. The formation of early Black churches reflected alternative readings of the Bible that stood counter to enslaved enslaver interpretations, and early Black Christians combined the need for personal salvation with social action and resistance.