Cornel West,biblical transparency,and American historical amnesia

Abstract

The Old Testament writers often evince a willingness to tell the truth about the past even when the purpose for doing so is either not immediately clear or seemingly counterproductive. I will suggest that such transparency has a theological significance for people today. I then move to the work of Cornel West who has called for a reversal of American historical amnesia, the widespread tendency in America to evade the difficult episodes of our nation’s past. So this article combines the biblical testimony about Israel’s infelicitous past with the contemporary call to apply that same transparent introspection within American culture.