How does the Black American experience fit into the Bible? At first glance it may not seem like it does. American history has shown that the Bible has been used to promote slavery, segregation, and Black inferiority. To some Black Americans, reading the Bible may seem like an exercise in despair and subjugation. Dr. Esau McCaulley says a resounding NO, reading the Bible can be an exercise in hope, we just need to know how to read and interpret it correctly. McCaulley’s new book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As An Exercise in Hope covers how the Bible addresses topics such as policing, being a political witness, the Black identity, and slavery.

McCaulley begins his book by explaining that the Black church tradition is known for: advocating justice, affirming that Black people have worth, and promoting a “multi ethnic” body of believers. He spotlights how Black Christianity has always challenged White Slaveholder Christianity, from the days of slavery to our current moment. McCaulley states that American culture may deny dignity and hope to Black Christians, however they are able to find these two truths in the Bible.

This book is coming out at just the right time in our political moment when issues of policing and systemic racism are front and center. One chapter deals with policing and how it is addressed in the New Testament. McCaulley draws clear parallels between how Christians interacted with the Roman guards and how Black people interact with police today. He also writes about the importance of Black Christians being involved in politics by calling out injustices and the evil policies implemented by governments and leaders.

One of his strongest chapters (Chapter 5) deals with the Bible and Black identity. It was definitely written to respond to hoteps, even though McCaulley does not use that term. He challenges the assertion by Black Secularists that Blacks shouldn’t be Christian because they were only introduced to the religion because of slavery. McCaulley challenges that notion by highlighting African people who are mentioned in the Bible (specifically Simon the Cyrene and the Ethiopian Eunuch) as well as during the early history of the Church when the Gospel was introduced to Ethiopia and Nubia.

He closes his book by addressing the Bible and slavery, answering questions such as whether God intended for slavery to happen in America or was it a by-product of the Fall? He provides a fascinating argument about how Black Christians read those verses of the Bible that tended to condone slavery and provides a strong Biblical rationale for why American slavery was not ordained by God, however, freedom is and that is good news!

Reading While Black would be a great book to study in Black Churches for adults and teenagers. I personally wish this book had been around, or a young adult version of it, when I was a teenager. There were times, when I was in school, when I read about how the Bible was used to promote racism and I never knew how to reconcile the faith I was raised in with the one that promoted the oppression of my ancestors. McCaulley’s book teaches Black Christians how to do that work and also provides an excellent history on how Black religious leaders and scholars of the past interpreted the Bible to give them hope and freedom.

Thanks to NetGalley, IVP Academic, and Esau McCaulley for a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on September 1, 2020.

After reading and enjoying a few of McCaulley's op-eds in the NYT and WaPo, I was looking forward to this book. The book is an exploration of what it is like to read the Bible as a Black Christian in America; his main question being, "Is the Bible a friend or foe in the Black quest for justice?"

McCaulley describes himself as someone caught between the racism of America's dominant Christian culture, and what he describes as the liberalism of the progressive Black Christian community. He names the oppressive aspects of dominant Christianity and Biblical interpretation, and how these matters have affected him through his life. But he never clearly describes what he believes is amiss about what he implied as being the other end of the spectrum, progressive Black Christian interpretation. I felt frustrated by this as I read. His allusions to the pitfalls of liberalism felt like a straw man; brought up, but never articulated clearly. (Perhaps this was done in order to put more conservative readers at ease, because this book is more of an appeal to conservative Christians? I don't know.)

Overall, the book offered some valuable critique and insight into various aspects of the Biblical narrative, examining stories that are overlooked by dominant Christian culture. I appreciated his words toward the end of the book regarding the essential interpretive work of feminist and womanist scholars.
"The voices of black women are vital if the whole people of God are to join in the interpretative process."



Thanks to IVP and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book.

This is much needed book for Christians, and for anyone who wants to broaden the way they see the world. We cannot help interpreting Scripture based purely on how we have experienced the world. And if that way has been limited to the teachings of white evangelical males than we are missing out on a huge portion of the worlds population. It is so important that we learn the limits of our boxes. Sometimes those limits can be good, but usually they prevent us from having any sort of sympathy and empathy. Learning to see the world from another place is not going to make you change your core beliefs, but it will ask you to keep in mind that you have limitations. Humans are selfish and fallible, so we need to start by acknowledging that weakness and build a better place from there. Esau needs to get this book into the hands of a wide audience and I will help do that by whatever means are available to me.

I was very intrigued after reading the synopsis of this book. Esau McCaulley dives into his early upbringing, his college days of majoring in history and religion, and how he has devoted his time bridging the gap of Christianity and the Black community. This is a great book for someone who is interested in learning more about Christianity and how it affects the Black community and how the interpretations of the Bible differ from conventional interpretations for African Americans.

Reading While Black is the right book at the right time for an Evangelicalism that has for too long been dominated by Whiteness. Author Esau McCaulley writes compellingly of the way he's come to read the Scriptures, inviting readers into a broader understanding of God. I found myself highlighting the better part of most pages and writing "Yes!" in the margins. Highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I kept wanting to meet the author and thank him. What a great thinker. The exegetical work he does here, partnered with his shared experience as an African American, point to a well-earned faith. He looks at those experiences chapter by chapter and shows that God has always been and still is the answer. Behold, he makes all things new!

It is the middle of the year 2020, and the world is rocked by a global pandemic and a tagalong economic crisis. Many of us are stuck at home, and so when the news broke about George Floyd we did not have our usual distractions that we could occupy ourselves with: a whole country, the whole world, watched in horror while a police officer casually murdered a man in front of others. Our streets have been filled with protests, and we have in turn watched with the same horror as police brutalized protesters over and over again. White America, still stuck at home, has bought up every copy of White Fragility off the virtual shelves of Amazon to do our homework in an impromptu racial education.

It is challenging to generalize how people are feeling or what they are thinking right now, because it seems that we’re all over the map. Speaking personally, though, I will say that as a relatively racially ignorant white Christian it has felt challenging to do my homework. Why? Because on the one hand there are plenty of books about race that people are recommending to one another right now, but all of them start with the presupposition that God is not here, and even if he were, religion would still be irrelevant to the problem of racism. On the other hand, there are thousands of books published by Christian publishers in any given year, but flip a lot of them open and you would be forgiven for not realizing racism is still a live problem. Thankfully, this is not a universal rule, and I’ve been particularly pleased to see IVP making it a priority to address the subject in a meaningful way.

Esau McCaulley’s new book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope sits wonderfully between these two extremes, being a work that explicitly addresses racism, policing, political activism, and more but from the vantage point of someone who believes God has a word to say on the subject. Interestingly, McCaulley says that he feels this divide as well and expressly positions his book as something distinct from white conservative theology as well as from modern progressivism:

We are thrust into the middle of a battle between white progressives and white evangelicals, feeling alienated in different ways from both. When we turn our eyes to our African American progressive sisters and brothers, we nod our head in agreement on many issues. Other times we experience a strange feeling of dissonance, one of being at home and away from home. Therefore, we receive criticism from all sides for being something different, a fourth thing. I am calling this fourth thing Black ecclesial theology and its method Black ecclesial interpretation. I am not proposing a new idea or method but attempting to articulate and apply a practice that already exists.

And he articulates this way well. While he may be criticized from all sides for being this "fourth thing," he maintains an irenic tone throughout, arguing for a way of peace and justice that draws out our humanity instead of simply elevating a new people to power at the expense of another. McCaulley draws his biblical study together well when he shows that the hope for us lies not in our man-made solutions, but in the man who made us for himself:

What brings the warring parties of the world together is not the emergence of a new philosophy of government; it is not free market capitalism, communism, socialism, or democracy. It is a person: the root of Jesse. Isaiah then calls for Black people, in the midst of their pain, to begin to envision a world not defined by our anger. The Bible calls on us to develop a theological imagination within which we can see the world as community and not a collection of hostilities. It does so by giving us the vision of a person who can heal our wounds and dismantle our hostilities.

I found myself wishing that this were a longer book so that he had more space to flesh out his Black ecclesial theology and interpretive method upon more topics. At any rate, it presents a good model for us to turn toward scripture when we are warring over the question of whether to defund the police or not. By examining the more fundamental questions of what God commands police to do and whether they are fulfilling that calling well or not, we can find more clarity in the more specific questions of what to do next.

Reading While Black is a worthwhile read for Christians who want to read and reflect upon scripture from a theologically orthodox yet non-white vantage point, and I recommend it.

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.

In some ways this book is difficult for me to review because I'm a white male. I've never had to, and never will be able to truly experience "reading while Black" when it comes to the scripture, and so I was honestly a bit worried entering into this book. The more I read, the more I realized how much this book was indeed still for me though in that as part of the Christian family filled Christians that *must* read while Black it gives me aide in striving to better understand the plight, problems, and frustrations (I will not be using alliteration...) my Black brethren face in not only finding their story in the Bible, but even in wanting to open it in the first place.

McCaulley caught me personally in the first chapter concerning the struggle of trying to speak up from the middle, too traditional some areas to really fit in to the progressive crowd, but also too progressive in some areas to easily fit into the traditional spaces. In opening this door though, McCaulley gives a way to a voice that will hopefully help both of these "sides" find some common ground to settle on.

With this door open, McCaulley tackles a number of tough subjects for anyone to try to give an answer too, or at least a starting point. In the second chapter he focuses on what the scripture has to say about policing (and it says much more than we might think!) and what that means for us today in the American policing system. He makes a strong case to call Christians of all sorts to their feet to cry for justice and against abuse of power, while also trusting that God will act against injustice. The two are never separate.

Chapter three tackles the struggle among the Black community in that they have "never had the luxury to separate our faith from political action." The two have always been woven together in America, and so how do you balance the call to submit to the government that also has always treated you as less valuable and less needed than the white man? McCaulley again does well in helping to navigate that fine line between obeying our rulers and also standing up and pushing back against them for the sake of the disenfranchised and oppressed as witnesses for the kingdom of God.

Chapter four wrestles with the question of God and justice. As a white man it isn't something I have ever found myself deeply wrestling with, at least not in the way I recognize that my Black family does. My existence has not been centered around a need for justice. To wrestle this one out, McCaulely takes us through the book of Luke who he deems "a gospel writer for black Christians" who as a Gentile coming into the kingdom reminds Black Christians that "We are God's children. The United States (or any other country) has no say in determining our value." Through this Gospel, we come face to face with a God who cares deeply about justice, about vindication for the oppressed, and liberation for the enslaved. But Luke serves as a good gospel in that it covers not just personal injustice, but more closely reveals how national injustice seeps into every aspect of the lives and communities of the oppressed.

Chapter five served as an outstanding read in my opinion. Christianity seems to oft be perceived as "the white man's religion" that has been forced upon the Black man through enslavement and colonization. While some forms of Christianity show that claim to true, does the scripture show itself to be a white man's religion? Surprisingly enough (or not really) we come to find out that the scripture and early Christianity has much more connection to my darker skinned African family than it does to my personal pale European heritage. While I can only speak from my own assumptions, I feel like this chapter would do just as much good in reminding my Black family that they have a strong place in Christianity as it does to remind me as a white reader that perhaps my place isn't as dominant as I've always been made to believe.

Chapter six asks the question of "What shall we do with this rage?" Are those within the Black community expected to simply pretend they are not angry with the way things are? And if not, what in the world do good Christians do with the rage and anger over injustice that boils within them? McCaulley brings us to the psalter to find songs such as 109 and 137 that bubble over with rage against the evil down against them and that call even the modern reader to not let anyone call us to simply forget the evil and injustice that exists. They are psalms that call the traumatized to be honest about what they feel, while also not striving to take control from God. As we continue through the scripture, we don't stop at the angry and honest psalms, but continue to Jesus who shows us how God responds to us, by putting on flesh and getting down beside us, by allowing Himself to know what its like to live His life and lose His life within the hands of the corrupt state. Does the scripture speak to Black rage? Yes indeed.

The final chapter tackles probably the toughest topic. Slavery. It is evident to all that the Bible includes slavery, and God Himself seems to even endorse it in some places. Apparently so clearly does it seem that God endorses slavery that it was the Bible that became one of the most powerful tools that American slaver owners had to call their owned men and women into submission. But is it truly the case that this is true about scripture? McCaulley says no, and in fact the scripture doesn't endorse slavery but, with the brokenness of the world in mind, greatly limits the evil of slavery and creates a kingdom through Christ in which it cannot really exist among His people.

Without a doubt I believe this book is a needed one in this time, to hopefully speak a message of hope and liberation to the Black community who, perhaps rightfully so, feels put off from Christianity after centuries of abuse from it. But it also is a needed word for the white community who has likely never had to read the scripture and ask, "Does it speak to people who look like me?" Who have never had to question if this text is one that can provide comfort. Who might be struggling to figure out how to speak to their Black family in these times in a way that isn't off-putting or ignorant of history.

This book was provided to me through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"God's vision for his people is not for the elimination of ethnicity to form a colorblind uniformity of sanctified blandness. Instead God sees the creation of a community of different cultures united by faith in his Son as a manifestation of the expansive nature of his grace. "

As a white woman who grew up in a white community in a white church, attended a preodominantly white college and currently works in a predominantly white industry, I have long thought the goal as far as racism goes, was to be "colorblind". And I succeeded at that. I also thought that the stories I'd seen on the news were exceptions, and not the rule, to how Blacks were treated in our nation. Recent events have spurred on conversations with people of color and have let me know that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. So, I need to be educated. As this book relates to how Blacks see the scriptures, I felt like this was a good place to start, and indeed it was! This was an eye-opening tome as far as the differences we experience, in even how we interpret the scriptures (for example, the Exodus hits a lot closer to home for a person whose great-grandmother had been enslaved).

After the initial introduction to what the author terms "black ecclesial interpretation", each chapter speaks to a Black experience and how the scriptures relate. While I personally felt more attention was drawn to both politics and slavery (slavery, while an important topic, took up 20% of the narrative, and 150 years removed from the Emancipation Proclamation, I don't think should have consumed quite that much of the book) than should have, I anticipate that the intended readers of this book will find it more appropriate. As I simply don't care for politics at all (though I know that this is a pressing concern for Blacks), any conversation about that is too much almost to me. One thing that I struggled with in that chapter was how the author was comparing Paul's exhortation to pray for our leaders to our current leaders and seemed to imply that today's leaders were worse. However, at the time of that writing, Paul was under the authority of Nero. With the checks and balances we have in place in our country, I'm pretty sure that no matter how corrupt the politician, they would not be worse than Nero. But perhaps I interpreted what he was saying wrong. That was really the only content issue I took with the book. Chapter 5 was the strongest chapter for me, where the author discussed black identity and brought to light the many Africans in Scripture who go before us as part of the Biblical narrative. I loved that being brought to light. All in all, this gave me a lot to think about and gave me a brand new perspective on theology.

A couple of things I will note:
1. Mr. McCaulley is a highly educated theologian. As a person who generally reads fiction (and therefore deals only with common vernacular in books), it took me some time to get accustomed to the verbiage in this book. While I recognize and understand words like "eschatology", "exegetical" and "paradigmatic", they're not words I commonly use or see, so I often had to slow down and "translate" in my head what was being said. Readers who are accustomed to this type of language will have no issues though.
2. Because I read an e-copy of the Galley, there was a smattering of grammatical and spelling issues, as well as formatting issues. Because I assume these will be taken care of in final editing before the book is actually released, I'm not deducting any stars from my rating for it as I normally would have, but do want to note it in case they are not fully edited.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. I was under no obligation to write a review and the thoughts contained herein are my own.

Excellent, well-substantiated, and thought-provoking book. Appreciate the perspective and Biblical context from a Black theologian's point of view. Still find myself referencing ideas from the book in conversation and thinking through what was said. Definitely a needed voice. Highly recommend.

I have come into the Anglican tradition late. I grew up in a Pentecostal church and was a minister in a Pentecostal tradition for 30 years. In the past two years I have transitioned to the Anglican Church and am now seeking transfer of ordination so I may be a vocational deacon on the Anglican Church in North America.

In this transition I have become aware of Esau McCaulley who is an Anglican priest and professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His newest work is Reading While Black, set to be released September 1 by Intervarsity Press. I am fortunate to get an advanced copy to review.

When I taught as an adjunct in a college one of my favorite classes to teach was Bible Study Methods. In the last couple of years teaching that class I had utilized Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien. It is a good work to get students to realize the biases we have in coming to Scripture.

I then had a day when I brought in a colleague to talk about “Reading the Bible as a Black Man.” That single day became worth the work of the entire class to me. The last couple of times my friend came to talk about the Bible and finding the threads of being black in the Bible helped the students of color I had in the classroom. For me, as a white professor, to say, “Quit reading the Bible like it was written by white men” was one thing. To have a black man stand up and trace the roots of African humanity through the Scripture was another story altogether.

To that end, I wish I still taught that class because THIS is the book I would add to the syllabus. I want to lead folks through another lens of reading Scripture is McCaulley does that work. He is making the case for Black Ecclesial Interpretation, which is largely orthodox in theology. Yet… no one pays attention.

We all need to pay attention now.

Our problem in biblical education is we get narrow in our fights. We think it’s been about white progressive theology and white fundamentalist theology and white evangelical/reformed theology.

How narrow.

McCaulley brings to the table the best of the Black church in America. There is a public advocacy for justice. There is the affirmation of the worth of Black bodies and souls. There is the vision of multi-ethnic faith communities.

In all our white infighting what has been lost has been orthodox belief and practice. Black orthodoxy has kept that tradition and faith. We’ve chosen to look over it and past it.

Black orthodoxy is not white progressive theology. White progressive theology yanked away the authority of Scripture. This is something McCaulley contends Black orthodoxy wouldn’t do.

Progressives were reconstructing the Gospel and the Black church wasn’t going down that path.

White fundamentalism enabled slave owners to keep slaves.

White evangelicalism looked promising… on the surface. Then… along came social issues. Real life issues. Community issues. The Black church could speak prophetically to the community. Evangelical theology was exposed as too individualistic. The problem was with what was left out!

McCaulley goes at the question of how do you combine the authority of the Word with the social climate of the day? This is the basis for his work in this book.

McCaulley wants us to wrestle with Scripture. We are not only to “examine” the text, but the text is to “examine” us!

“I propose… that we adopt the posture of Jacob and refuse to let go of the text until it blesses us.”

We are to be patient with the text. Then, when we interpret we wrestle to find blessing… not a curse. This is the way to find the beauty of the authority of the Scriptures that will speak powerfully to our current human condition.

McCaulley then chooses current conditions and traditional American problems to tackle while wrestling with very familiar texts so we can learn to re-read the Scriptures.

He will tackle policing and use Romans 13:1-4.

He will tackle the political witness of the Church. He will painfully point out the times we, as whites, like to step forward (like abortion) and times we are woefully silent (like racism) and we, as whites, try to justify both by Scriptures.

He will tackle the pursuit of justice and how we truly need to see it from a Black Christian perspective. We are woefully inadequate to speak to the issues of our day and the Black Church can help us and we, as whites, should let them lead the way. There is a biblical view of a just society and we need to be about that work.

He will make the case for seeing Black in Scriptures. It’s simple, folks. We, as whites, are not there. AND we need to begin to see the color in Scripture. There are different communities and it is CHRIST (not being colorblind) that unites us.

He will address Black rage and protest. It will be the way of the Cross that will lead us all home on this one!

He will tackle slavery in the Bible with honesty and some depth. The key point here is the Bible will not address this subject in the way WE want, BUT the Bible WILL address what are are meant to be as the people of God.

McCaulley humbly asks to keep a conversation going.

“I wanted to continue a conversation, not conclude it.”

He gives us plenty to think on and talk over. Let the conversation move along!

The author takes us on a journey through his experience in the American black church and explores whether Christianity and the Bible truly have anything to say regarding the experience of Black people in America.

He begins by establishing his framework and the need to create space in the realms of theology and ecclesiology for Black interpretation. He addresses specific relevant domains for the time: a theology of policing, the church and political witness, and the Bible and the pursuit of justice, demonstrating how the Scriptures do give space for a robust social advocacy by Christians, nonviolent resistance against the powers and principalities, and an expectation for the civil authorities to truly commend the good and punish the evil - wherever that good or evil may be found, and not the justification of certain forms of evil (police brutality, extortion, corruption, etc.), which exposes the authorities as truly unjust.

He also addresses black identity and black anger according to what God has made known in Christ and in Scripture. He affirms significant African presence in Scripture and African blood within the people of God*. He finds a way for anger to be expressed in the imprecatory psalms, yet points out how the end of all such things is in faith and confidence in God. He speaks of the freedom slaves found in Scripture in its theme of liberation, and demonstrates the truth of the subtitle: Black people can find hope and the ground of hope through what is found in Scripture, and there is significant room and value in contribution for Black interpretation of Scripture and faith in Christ. His appendix provides a helpful explainer for the development of Black ecclesial interpretation from the end of slavery to the modern day.

As a white Christian the book was not directly written to me; it certainly seemed like I was being given a view into some "inside baseball" within the Black community. I found the explanations helpful and the theology generally sound. Biblical interpretation and the witness of faith will be better served with the elevation of Black voices speaking from the Black experience; I believe the deepening has already begun, and look forward to seeing it continue. A very well written and compelling work.

*- McCaulley's general premise is completely accurate - there is African blood within Israel, both from intermarriage and as part of the "mixed multitude" which joined Israel in the Exodus. Moses' Cushite wife came from somewhere. The story of Israel's history frequently intersects with Africans from Cush and Ethiopia. There's much more Africa in Israel than Europe, that's for certain. Egypt, however, is more complicated than McCaulley would suggest. Yes, Egypt is on the African continent; but culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and now genetically, it is manifest that Egypt is a Near Eastern civilization, connected more to the northeast than to its west or south. The Egyptians did not see themselves as "black" (or "white" for that matter); they saw themselves as in the middle, and superior that way. Are there Saharan and sub-Saharan influences on Egypt? Absolutely. But ancient Egyptian, while geographically African, is not "Black."

"I was blind, but now I can see." Esau McCaulley's "Reading While Black" is a game changer! As a white caucasian male, I was humbled, convicted, inspired, riveted, excited, and well-informed while reading this book. Esau's faithfulness to God, to his experience, to the black person's experience, and faithfulness to the biblical text was profoundly refreshing. In our current cultural climate, this is an absolute must read!

Reading While Black takes a look at African American interpretations of the bible and how they differ from conventional interpretations from white churches in America. I would clarify that these interpretations are not so different that they diverge from biblical canon. Instead, it focuses on the idea that Christianity is about freeing the oppressed and unity for all races and ethnic backgrounds. There are many examples of this in the bible (ie. Moses leading the slaves to freedom, and the unification of Jews and Gentiles). He also points out that one of the places Christianity originated from is North Africa.

With that in mind, I really enjoyed reading about interpreting the bible through a different perspective. As an Asian American who grew up in white evangelical churches, it can be really isolating when biblical norms seems to tie into white culture. Over time, I've been trying to expand my knowledge on how the bible is interpreted by different groups of people. Reading about Black Christian culture and its biblical interpretations has been really enlightening and incredibly important. I find that it helps us develop a more holistic view of the bible that's not homogenous to an individual culture or perspective. Reading While Black is an important book that gives us a window into the Black Christian identity, and shows us that God's redemptive grace is for the oppressed, and standing against injustice is in fact a biblical thing to do. I encourage people from a traditional western Christian background to read this book in order to understand the bible from a different lens.