The Talking Book: African Americans and the BibleYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 295 pages A 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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... John Wright of the University of Minnesota for sharing so generously with me his time, his texts, and his encyclopedic command of African- American literature. And I am pleased to acknowledge here Lara Heimert and her colleagues at Yale ...
... John / In the beginning was the word / And the word was with God / And the word was God , ” the opening words of the Gospel of John in the New Testament.1 African Americans first encountered the Bible as strangers in a strange land of ...
... John Mason Peck observed , " The negroes were accustomed to assemble in the pleasant afternoons of the Sabbath , dance , drink , and fight . ” 31 " 30 Planters who preferred religion to revelry as a form of social control began to ...
... John Jea that he was still a slave in spite of his conversion. After they left him, Jea writes, “I took the book, and held it up to my ears, to try whether the book would talk to me or not, but it proved to be all in vain, for I could ...
... the grace of Providence alone . The highest aspiration of African slave John Jea was to read the Bible for himself in English and Dutch , the languages of eighteenth - century Dutch New York . Jea realized 14 THE TALKING BOOK.
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
41 | |
49 | |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |