The Bible and the African American Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to provide a broad overview of the significant events in the mid-twentieth century African American struggle against racism and its impact on the theological academy in general and the academic work of Brian Blount in particular. Though denied access to advanced biblical study programs for many years, African American clergy and their churches have a long history of giving primacy to the Bible as their normative resource for opposing racial injustice. Brian Blount’s perceptive scholarship explores both the theological depth and the moral breadth of that connection.