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

Reading While Black: African American Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope (2020) is the second book written by Black American theologian, priest, and professor, Esau McCaulley. Reading While Black looks to the ecclesial tradition of early Black American churches to demonstrate the utility of the Bible in speaking directly to Black people’s concerns, including contemporary social justice issues. The text explores the Impact of Social Context on Religious Interpretation, the Contribution of Black Theological Perspectives to Broader Christian Thought, and the Power of Scripture in Addressing Contemporary Social Issues. McCaulley’s exegesis addresses Black Christians who feel that they must look to different sources for their doctrinal commitments and their social practices, as well as white Christians who have dismissed the concerns or agency of Black people in their interpretation of Christian doctrine.

Moreover, McCaulley’s text places the words and actions of Jesus, Paul, Luke, and Isaiah in conversation with Black pastors and theologians such as Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Martin Luther King, and James W. C. Pennington. Reading While Black, then, presents Black Ecclesial Interpretation (BEI) as a method rooted in the experiences of enslaved Black people and their descendants, who discerned from the scriptures a God who cared about them and their plight. McCaulley demonstrates that because of this care and concern, God, through Jesus and human agents, has supplied Black people with guidance on personal salvation and political freedom. Among the numerous awards won by Reading While Black are Christianity Today’s Book of the Year, the Emerging Public Intellectual Award, The Gospel Coalition Book Award, and Outreach Resources of the Year.

This guide refers to the 2020 InterVarsity Press print edition.

Content Warning: Reading While Black addresses enslavement, racism, violence, and oppression. The guide reproduces the terms “slave” and “slave master” only in quotation.

Summary

McCaulley begins by explaining how he was brought to the need to articulate a Christian tradition that weds doctrine and social practice, thus giving Black people hope about the future. He introduces the key debates that the text addresses and outlines key characteristics of BEI, namely that it has been theological and canonical from its inception and that it is socially located, dialogical, and patient.

He goes on to identify a theology of policing in the New Testament through exegesis of Romans 13:1-7 and the witness of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke. This includes an extensive discussion of policing in the Roman Empire and how it relates to Black people’s encounters with policing in the United States.

McCaulley extends the theology of policing to a wider theology of political witness, demonstrating that Black political resistance follows examples set by Jesus, Paul, John, and Isaiah in naming and condemning political injustices as acts against God and God’s people. He argues that political witness, rather than being antithetical to Christian doctrine, is a requirement for good Christian praxis.

He then turns to the Gospel of Luke to illustrate a key element of the Black ecclesial tradition: the centrality of the exodus narrative to early and ongoing Black Christianity and trust in God as liberator. McCaulley argues for the role that canon plays in the discernment of God’s character and guidance for social practice.

While McCaulley hints at God’s intention to include Black people in his kingdom, he goes on to expound upon God’s multiethnic vision and contends that Black people have always been a part of God’s plans. In addition to finding evidence of the multiethnic vision in the Abrahamic promises of Genesis, the Davidic promises of Psalms, and John’s vision in Revelation, McCaulley also identifies African locations and people that play important roles in the story of Christianity. He contends that early Black Christianity is distinguished by powerful encounters with the cross.

He underscores this point when the topic of interest is Black anger at political and personal suffering. In addition to the Bible demonstrating—through the example of Israel—that Black people can take their anger to God in prayer, McCaulley also contends that it is the encounter with the cross that compels Black people to forgive their oppressors rather than seek revenge.

McCaulley wraps up his articulation of BEI when he faces the most pressing question that has troubled American Christians regardless of race: whether God supports slavery. McCaulley employs an exegetical method used by Jesus to answer unequivocally that God does not support slavery. He also discusses Old Testament enslavement laws and Pauline passages to illustrate that the Bible provides resources to enable abolition and undermine the institution of slavery.

In the Conclusion, McCaulley reiterates his previous points about the key characteristics and sources of BEI. He closes the text by outlining the religious and scholarly influences that have informed his proposals and analyses, such as large Black denominations and Black liberation theology.