Reading the Bible as African Americans

In the previous article "Reading the Bible from Particular Social Locations," I had indicated that there is no such thing as reading the Bible "objectively."  The only way that this could happen is for us to be detached from everything that happens on earth by elevating ourselves to a different realm other than that of history.  And since that is not going to happen, neither will be able to read the Bible in an "objective" manner.  Our reading of the Bible will always be biased and subjective due to our human condition.

There is no "universal" way of reading Scripture.  Neither is there a "universal" way of interpreting the Bible.  The reading and interpretation of the Bible in the African American community will naturally be different than its reading and interpretation in the Euro-American community.  There are two basic reasons for that:

1.  The Bible was not written in Euro-America, and neither is it the product of Euro-American culture.  The Bible was written in a culture which is far different than that of Euro-America.

2.  African Americans read the Bible in light of their existential reality and experience, i.e. slavery, discrimination and oppression.

In saying this, it is clear that African Americans and others do not consider the Euro-American
interpretation of Scripture to be "universally valid."  In other words, the idea that "white is right" has no place in African American church life or Scripture reading and hermeneutic (interpretation).

James Earl Massey reminds us that African Americans accept the Bible as an adequate, practical, and immediate statement of the divine intention for humankind.  The thrust of their Bible reading is practical, i.e. trying to discern the voice of God addressing oneself and one's people in the context of life's immediacies. 

Those who are used to and comfortable with the Euro-American interpretation of the Bible will consider an African American biblical hermeneutic to be of inferior quality.  This is a result of considering blacks and other people "of color" to be inferior to Caucasians.

The African American biblical hermeneutic is a challenge to the notion of "white superiority" both in its interpretation of the Bible and that of the Christian faith.  In essence, since the biblical interpretation of the Bible is done from the bottom up (the standpoint of the marginalized and powerless), rather than from the top down ( hegemony and power), those who read the Bible through the prism of the black experience are saying to the white power structure "the hell with you and your oppressive interpretation of Scripture."

Whereas historically, the Bible was used by Euro-Americans as a tool of enslavement and subjugation, the African American community reads and interprets the Bible as a tool of spiritual, as well as socio-economic liberation.  While the Euro-American community and power structure would quote those biblical passages that appear to justify slavery and white superiority, the African American community would read those passages that speak of equality, especially of equality in Christ.  They would also reinterpret from their own standpoint of the experience of discrimination and oppression, those passages which are used by the white power structure to keen them in a state
of economic, political, and social subjugation.

I invite you the reader, especially if you are not African American, to critique and evaluate how African Americans read and interpret Scripture.  In your opinion, is their way of doing biblical theology correct and valid or is it incorrect and invalid? Whatever your position is, I challenge you to state the basis for that position.  Tell us why you subscribe to one position of the other.  Does the reading and interpretation of the Bible take you out of your comfort zone?  I look forward to your input on this vital issue.

Grace and peace,

Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona