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“The Bible, Black Women and Ministry”
Get PDFIn the last score of years, there has been a marked increase in the number of monographs, collaborative studies and periodical literature that have focused on biblical perspectives on the roles and status of women. While more than fifty years ago this subject received sustained attention in a few books published in Europe and the United States, by no means do the scope of the treatment, and the stances espoused, or the variety of volumes seen today compare with those found in those earlier studies which appeared shortly after the turn of the last century. Doubtless, the current preoccupation with this subject is a barometer of the legitimate perception, in some quarters, that women have not been accorded in modern society anything that approaches what the Bible itself at times seems to demand or at least to imply strongly in terms of equality. Yet, it is troubling that most, if not all, of this literature, which purports to study the roles and status of “women” in the Bible, invariably appears to have been written for the specific benefit of Anglo-Saxon or Jewish women of today as opposed to Black and other women of the third world who find themselves in far more wretched circumstances than their more privileged female counterparts. For this reason, it is necessary to study some of the lines along which the biblical witness provides images and themes for the uplift, liberation and divinely-inspired leadership not just of “women” in general, but that of Black women in particular
Economic Dimensions of the Black Church: Managerial and Financial Strategies for Survival and Development
Get PDFThe theological rationale and spiritual motivation for the founding of the Black Church in America did not emanate from the classical, Christian, and Germanic synthesis of the Middle Ages. Neither did traditional white Protestantism and Roman Catholicism influence, significantly, its religious practices and social mission. The Black Church developed from the spirituality of West African ethos and adapted to the psychological and social needs of subjugated and enslaved Blacks. Liberation and survival was its primary objective
Sojourners Truths: The New Testament as Diaspora Space
Get PDFThe title of this lecture is “Sojourners’ Truths: The New Testament as Diaspora Space.” A seminary professor often lives a double life of teacher and preacher, and each role can inform the other. This year’s Copher lecture grows out of such cross-fertilization. In preparing to preach a sermon on the Pentecost narrative, I became aware that the “crowd” in that story was composed of immigrants dwelling in Katoikountes, Jerusalem. This raised my interest about fee presence and impact of immigration on the New Testament. My interest rose further when I conducted a quick review of the texts of the New Testament canon. The undisputed letters of Paul, of which there are seven, certainlyconstitute migrant writings, as Paul was writing neither to nor from Tarsus. The four gospels. Acts, and the three Johannine epistles have been identified, for many decades, as writings by unknown authors inexile after the Roman siege of Jerusalem
Ex-Jesus or Exegesis? How to Break the Students' Resistance to Learn Biblical Exegesis
Get PDFThe teaching of biblical exegesis normally attracts students with two distinct goals (a) to learn biblical exegesis as an abstract technique that prepares them for advanced academic degrees, or (b) to achieve the necessary skills for interpreting biblical texts in ways that transform lives. For the latter to happen, the instructor must motivate and even mentally jolt students to reconsider the embedded biblical interpretation that they bring with them to seminary, one that is typically based on faith. Thus, the teaching of biblical exegesis to those preparing for church ministry should provoke students to reexamine texts that they took for granted based on church tradition. This article demonstrates one ofthe methods that the author uses to teach biblical exegesis that excites the two types of students
Beyond Eurocentric Biblical Interpretation: Reshaping Racial and Cultural Lenses
Get PDFLiving in the United States of America has been quite an adventure for me, especially during this past half century of extraordinary social, political, and technological change. While as an African American with a sense of history and a critical consciousness, I have found myself often having to prove that I indeed am a citizen of this country. As many other fellow Americans, I have watched and variously been influenced by a stunning variety of paradigm shifts in age, gender, and race; some of these changes have been inspiring and most uplifting, but others have been and continue to be rather disturbing. New nation states have emerged in the aftermath of World War II. We have so far averted a nuclear holocaust, and the threat of Communism sweeping the globe seems to have been substantially removed. Religion still appears to have the opportunity to call humanity out of despair, discord, greed, and the arrogant desire to oppress. Capitalism seems, at least for the moment, to have won the day, and it has driven a pop culture to almost obscene lengths as the masses have been either bitterly tantalized by gross materialism or have seen their ranks gradually reduced by some who have taken full advantage of the opportunities for social mobility with minimal regard for those left behind in the margins
Affirming Diversity: Developing Theological Collections from the African-American Perspective
Get PDFDeveloping theological collections from the African-American perspective requires a penetrating investigation of diverse issues that not only identifies the unique context for this study, but also lays the foundation upon which to build the discussion. This is a demanding task! Any attempt to undertake this formidable challenge immediately acknowledges that collecting and preserving "the documentary and cultural heritage of people of African descent" has been unrecognized and therefore unhonored."... [T]here is a kind of intellectual chauvinism that permeates the academic world [which 1 says that grassroots people are marginal. . . . Understanding this bias, a new frame of mental reference is required, and empowerment strategies which affirm the diversity of the Black Experience and ameliorate the consequences of contemporary racism (racialism) can then be engaged. This approach demands that we look from the inside out, not from the outside in—the African-centered perspective. The process employed develops action initiatives to identify lacuna in documenting Black history and also retrieves vital sources of history to generate African-American collections which preserve a common culture
Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Front Matter, 1998
No full textJournal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Front Matter, 199
God's Name Yahweh Elohim and the Unification of Israel: A Challenge to Africans and African Americans
Get PDFHistorical and archaeological data attest that African civilization in antiquity had reached great heights of development. This is in sharp contrast to what it is today. No simple explanation is adequate to explain how great civilizations like those of Zimbabwe and Kush fell. Unlike ancient Near Eastern civilizations, not many written records or artifacts are available to reveal decisively the hidden past and identity of the people who dwelt in these places. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Great Zimbabwe, which means "Stone Dwelling," is a large area of stone buildings covering 60 acres of land. It is the largest of many similar ruinsscattered in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It dates from c. 800 C. E. although the site had been occupied before that. In the eleventh to the fifteenth century it was the center of trade, exchanging goods with countries such as China at the shores of the Indian Ocean. The Zimbabwe bird carved in soapstone and some copper coins have been excavated at the ruins. What is remarkable of the building skills is that the entire complex is still intact yet built without mortar
Recognizing Our Identity
Get PDFAt a recent meeting of the faculty of Interdenominational Theological Center, I was in one of my rare defensive moods. The faculty was discussing poorly equipped students recommended for admission. Defensively, I commented that many local churches send us “chickens” and expect us to return "high-flying eagles.” Seminaries receive criticism for failing to perform miracles with students, many of whom have severe deficits. Basic problems involve written and spoken language skills, inability to think logically, imprecision in articulating goals and limited worldviews
The Impact of African Students on an African-American Seminary
Get PDFInterdenominational Theological Center (ITC) began in 1958, the result of merging four separate theological seminaries to form at that time the most creative venture in American theological education. These seminaries were: Gammon Theological Seminary (United Methodist), Morehouse School of Religion (Baptist), Phillips School of Theology (Christian Methodist Episcopal), and Turner Theological Seminary (African Methodist Episcopal). In 1970, Johnson C. Smith Seminary (Presbyterian USA) moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, where it had existed since 1867, to become the fifth denominational constituent seminary of ITC. A year later, 1971, the Church of God in Christ established its first theological School (Charles Harrison Mason Seminary), becoming the sixth seminary of ITC. The Episcopal Church organized the Absalom Jones Episcopal Institute and positioned it at the Institution during the seventies