Christ and Culture Revisited
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 64, No. 2 – Spring 2022
Editor: David S. Dockery
By Esau McCaulley. Downers Grove: IVP, 2020, 198pp., $14.89
In Reading While Black, Esau McCaulley, who is assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and an ordained Anglican, speaks aloud for the edification of modern Black Christians. The book is a com- bination of genres: hermeneutics, spiritual autobiography, and applied systematic theology. In it, McCaulley argues “that the Black ecclesial tradition…has a distinctive message of hope arising from its reading of biblical texts” (p. 164). His aim is to share this hermeneutic arising from this community.
Reading While Black contains seven chapters, a conclusion, and a helpful “bonus track.” Chapter one, “The South got Somethin’ to Say,” theologically situates the Black ecclesial hermeneutic, one that is “formed by the faith found in the foundational and ongoing doctrinal commitments, sermons, public witness, and ethos of the Black church” (pp. 4–5). Here McCaulley describes how this hermeneutic was “canonical from its inception” and “unabashedly theological” (p. 19). Chapter two develops a biblical theology of policing based on Romans 13:1–7 in light of the larger canon, leading the reader to understand that “the Christian’s first responsibility is to make sure that those who direct the sword in our culture direct that sword in ways keeping with our values” (p. 39).
Chapter three describes the “New Testament and the Political Witness of the Church” (p. 47) by beginning with Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” McCaulley rightfully notes that King’s ministerial detractors were “focused more on law and order than the demands of the gospel” (p. 48). Chapter four analyzes the pursuit of justice in the New Testament, as especially seen in Luke-Acts.
Chapter five asks readers to consider Black identity as presented in the Bible itself. McCaulley explores this with relation to Abraham, Manasseh and Ephraim, David, Jesus, Simon of Cyrene, and the Ethiopian eunuch. He then robustly states, “Colorblindness is sub-biblical and falls short of the glory of God. What is it that unites this diversity? It is not cultural assimilation, but the fact that we worship the Lamb” (p. 116). Chapter six describes the struggle with “Black rage” at exploitative whites and sinful African Americans (p. 120). He calls upon persons feeling this rage “to develop a theological imagination within which we can see the world as a community and not a collection of hostilities. It does so by giving us the vision of a person who can heal our wounds and dismantle our hostilities” (p. 129).
Chapter seven describes a biblical theology of slavery and an accompanying hermeneutic of hope arising from both the biblical text and the life of Christian African Americans. Here, the Exodus serves as a hermeneutical key to the Bible. “Slavery is a manifestation of the fall,” McCaulley observes, “and God begins the story of Israel by freeing them from slavery as a symbol of hope. My ancestors read it that way and so do I” (p. 151). The “Bonus Track” surveys the “history of Black biblical interpretation” (p. 168) and is worth the price of the book.
Reading While Black is a thought-provoking book. It is thoroughly researched by an expert in the field, and the author writes with a tremendous amount of humility. Ultimately, it allows the attentive reader, who is not native to the Black ecclesial tradition, to have their eyes opened to the beauty of seeing Jesus as “the person who can heal our wounds and dismantle our hostilities” (p. 129).
The book does have a few drawbacks. The relative paucity of sources throughout the book is problematic. Often the reader is left to trust McCaulley that the black ecclesial tradition he speaks of is as described (p. 171). Also, more epistemological humility might be warranted, as when the author seems to speak out of what is often called class warfare when he describes “families living in luxury knowing that this wealth is bought with the price of their suffering” (p. 123).
It seems to this reviewer that the true genius of books like this lies in the way they allow readers to see biblical themes endemic to the text in a fresh way, themes that they might not have seen without the benefit of a hermeneutical aid. While it is not a perfect book, Reading While Black does faithfully allow readers to hear from God’s Word clearly.
