Reading While Black (Esau McCaulley) -- A Review

 

READING WHILE BLACK: African American Biblical Interpretation as Exercise in Hope. By Esau McCaulley. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020. 198 pages.

                It has become clear that our social location influences how we read Scripture. I am a white male Protestant living in the United States. For good or ill that reality influences the way I view everything. I am, thankfully, aware of this, but that doesn't mean I find it easy to break free of my location. Therefore, it is important to listen to other voices that speak from other social locations, especially when it comes to reading Scripture. I love the Bible. I hold it to be a sacred text, even when I read it critically. Nevertheless, I know that it has been used to oppress and suppress the myriads of people through the ages. That fact has led many to abandon the Bible altogether.  I'm not ready to do that, but I know I must be aware of the dangers of misinterpretations and misapplication.

                I read Esau McCaulley's Reading While Black with great interest. It is a nominated book for an awards effort that I chair, so I had to read it with that in mind (along with a great number of other books). However, as I read the book I became intrigued by the author's profound understanding of scripture and its implications. McCaulley approaches this conversation from a particular location. He is Black and Evangelical, and he finds himself caught between two poles. On one hand, there are white evangelicals who seem unaware or unwilling to take seriously the concerns of African American Christians. On the other hand, Black progressives can be suspicious of evangelical readings of Scripture. With this book, he seeks to offer a third perspective, one that is thoroughly aware of the realities faced by African Americans while seeking to honor a more conservative/evangelical view of Scripture. It's not an easy task, but whether one agrees with his approach (I read it from a post-evangelical perspective), I commend him for this effort.

                In his introductory chapter, he places himself within the Southern Black Christian context, speaking from within a specific Black ecclesial context. While the Black Christian tradition isn't monolithic, he notes that it is "largely orthodox in its theology in the sense that it holds to many of the things that all Christians have generally believed." However, on matters of social justice, they embrace much of what Black progressives embrace. (p. 5). Thus, he wants to argue that the Black ecclesial tradition has something important to say to the Black community.

                What McCaulley does here is engage in a conversation that brings to bear a rather orthodox reading of Scripture with the realities faced by the Black community. He writes that the book is offered as an "attempt to show that the instincts and habits of Black biblical interpretation can help us use the Bible to address the issues of the day. It is an attempt to show that for Black Christians the very process of interpreting the Bible can function as an exercise in hope and connect us to the faith of our ancestors" (pp. 23-24). With this in mind, McCaulley starts right out by addressing one of the most troubling issues faced by the Black community and that is policing.

                Chapter two, the one that addresses policing is titled “Freedom Is No Fear.” This is an important chapter because it speaks to current concerns. He speaks as one who has been targeted by police simply for being Black. So, he offers a New Testament Theology of Policing, one that speaks of freedom without fear. As one might expect, he deals with Romans 13, offering a very helpful interpretation of that passage that has too often been misinterpreted and misapplied to promote subservience to the state. He points out that the early Christians understood what over-policing involved since Rome used its military to police the empire. Thus, engaging with Scripture, including Paul, he offers guidance as to finding a path to structural reform that would offer freedom to people of color. He's not asking that the police be defunded, but he does offer a possible path to true reform, one that is rooted in a theology of freedom.

                From there in chapter three, he speaks to the political witness of the church, taking note of Dr. Martin Luther King's efforts and example. Turning to the New Testament he finds significant resources for political resistance, especially in the Gospels. He reminds us that Herod feared Jesus not because he was a compassionate healer but because this healing ministry was a sign of the reign of God was breaking into the world. As one who is evangelically inclined, affirming the importance of discipleship and evangelism, as well as personal holiness, he makes it clear that for the Black Christian faith also "includes bearing witness to a different and better way of ordering our societies in a world whose default instinct is oppression. To do less would be to deny the kingdom" (p. 70). In other words, he addresses the reality of systemic racism.

                He dives deeper in chapter four, which revisits the book title, to explore the concept of justice as revealed in the biblical story as it is understood in light of the Black experience. Thus, he finds there, especially in the Gospels, a message of liberation. He doesn’t necessarily find a full policy outline for the justice system, he does believe that there are principles and critiques present in Scripture that can equip Black Christians for living and working and thriving in the United States.

                For some reason, many white folks get uncomfortable when people with Black or Brown bodies claim a certain pride in their heritage and ethnicity. For some reason, it's seen as inappropriate to declare that to be Black is to be beautiful, though that declaration is found in the Song of Songs itself. What he does in chapter five is take notice of folks present in the Biblical story who are Black. He brings to the fore stories, such as Simon of Cyrene and the Ethiopian Eunuch, both of whom are Africans. He makes it clear in response to those who claim that Christianity is a white man's religion, that the church has been present within the African context from the very beginning of Christian history. He notes that in his view Christianity is a story about God and God's purposes, and among those purposes is the creation of a diverse community that worships God. So, "when the Black Christian enters the community of faith, she is not entering a strange land. She is finding her way home" (p. 117).

                For some chapter six will be uncomfortable, but it is a necessary chapter. He asks the question what should African Americans do with their rage? He affirms the reality of the anger and the hurt experienced by African Americans. He doesn't tell the reader to suppress the anger. Instead, he shows how Scripture gives voice to anger through lamentation and the imprecatory psalms. Scripture actually helps give voice to rage, so that the truth can be made known and redress can be made. He also finds hope in the message of the cross and resurrection.

                Because Scripture has been used to support or explain away the awfulness of slavery, he devotes an important chapter on the way Scripture has been interpreted and used to abuse. He acknowledges the challenges posed by texts such as 1 Timothy 6, which enjoin obedience to masters. The way he approaches the question is to place these texts in the context of God's intent, so that slavery is a reality faced by ancient peoples, but it is not part of God's creational intent. Thus, we cannot explain it away or support such an institution as being of God.

            McCaulley adds what he calls a “Bonus Track” in which he offers a deeper reflection on the state of Black ecclesial interpretation. In this brief chapter, McCaulley gives us a look at the development of biblical interpretation within the Black church experience, from that emerging from among slaves to later scholarly approaches. He points out that as slaves learned to read the Bible their imaginations broadened, which led to slave masters deciding that the Bible was too dangerous to leave to the reading by slaves on their own. Nevertheless, a response emerged that has continued to be reflected to this day. Thus, liberationist and other related forms of interpretation, including womanist readings have emerged. The interpretive grids that emerged helped the Black churches address the ways in which biblical interpretation has been distorted to suppress and oppress.

               McCaulley provides us with an important apologetic for the way in which the Black Ecclesial Tradition has addressed questions of biblical interpretation and its application to concerns facing the African American community. Thus, he affirms the possibilities of allowing Scripture to speak to Black Lives, making that point clear without necessarily using the term that Black Lives Matter. My starting point as a more progressive white mainliner might be different from McCaulley's, but I found his engagement with Scripture, the Christian faith, and the African American social location to be insightful and instructive. Although Reading While Black is relatively brief, and perhaps introductory, it covers important bases making it a book that should be read by all.