The Talking Book: African Americans and the BibleA striking narrative of the Bible’s central role in African-American history from the early days of slavery to the present The Talking Book casts the Bible as the central character in a vivid portrait of black America, tracing the origins of African-American culture from slavery’s secluded forest prayer meetings to the bright lights and bold style of today’s hip-hop artists. The Bible has profoundly influenced African Americans throughout history. From a variety of perspectives this wide-ranging book is the first to explore the Bible’s role in the triumph of the black experience. Using the Bible as a foundation, African Americans shared religious beliefs, created their own music, and shaped the ultimate key to their freedom—literacy. Allen Callahan highlights the intersection of biblical images with African-American music, politics, religion, art, and literature. The author tells a moving story of a biblically informed African-American culture, identifying four major biblical images—Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel. He brings these themes to life in a unique African-American history that grows from the harsh experience of slavery into a rich culture that endures as one of the most important forces of twenty-first-century America. |
From inside the book
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... God of holy scripture had made slaves no less than their masters in the divine image and likeness. The Apostle Paul had declared that master and slave were equal in God's sight. And in the book of Exodus God had freed the ancient ...
... god / ande wad was god.” Hodgson puzzled over the unintelligible text until, sounding it out phonetically, he realized that the lines of Arabic script were from neither an Arabic text nor an Arabic translation of an English text. London ...
... God / And the word was God,” the opening words of the Gospel of John in the New Testament.1 African Americans first ... God's will. In the British colonies of mid-Atlantic North America, both the Puritans and the Anglicans made modest ...
... God's grace. These preachers proclaimed a divine salvation needed by all and available to all, boldly pitching their ... God.3 Unmediated access to the Bible was an Evangelical imperative. Thus for Evangelicals, reading became a matter ...
... God, and were carried away by Moses. God had blessed him with an angel to go with him, but that I could see nothing of that kind in these days.” According to Woolfolk's testimony, Martin replied, “I read in my Bible where God says if we ...
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
3 The Good Book | 41 |
4 Exile | 49 |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |