The Talking Book
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African Americans and the Bible
Allen Dwight Callahan
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Format: PaperPrice: $20.00
“This is a landmark book. I am not aware of any book in print that draws so many telling conclusions about African Americans and the Bible.”—Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame
The Talking Book casts the Bible as the central character in a vivid portrait of Black America, tracing the origins of African-American culture from slavery’s secluded forest prayer meetings to the bright lights and bold style of today’s hip-hop artists.
The Bible has profoundly influenced African Americans throughout history. From a variety of perspectives this wide-ranging book is the first to explore the Bible’s role in the triumph of the black experience. Using the Bible as a foundation, African Americans shared religious beliefs, created their own music, and shaped the ultimate key to their freedom—literacy. Allen Callahan highlights the intersection of biblical images with African-American music, politics, religion, art, and literature.
The author tells a moving story of a biblically informed African-American culture, identifying four major biblical images—Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel. He brings these themes to life in a unique African-American history that grows from the harsh experience of slavery into a rich culture that endures as one of the most important forces of twenty-first-century America.
Allen Dwight Callahan is director of the Instituto Martin Luther King, Jr. in Salvador, Brazil.
"In a single volume, the author takes his readers on a quest to find the heart of African-American imagination about and fascination with the Bible, from slavery to the present."—Abraham Smith, Southern Methodist University
"A fascinating excursion through many genres of African-American culture, as varied as spirituals and hip hop, sermons and the visual arts."—Leslie Callahan, University of Pennsylvania
“In this informative academic volume, Callahan examines how the music and literature of black Americans are shot through with biblical images. . . . From W.E.B. Du Bois to Toni Morrison, black writers have invoked Jesus to signify ‘the suffering of black people.’ Callahan’s investigations will doubtless interest students of African-American religion.”—Publishers Weekly
“A powerful look at the intersection of religion and African American culture.”—Booklist
“Callahan’s remarkable book describes the rich and intense relationship between the Bible and the African-American imagination. But even more powerfully, it suggests—without making the case directly—that the reading of the Christian tradition offered by African-Americans is as close as any to the authentic meaning of Christianity.”—E. J. Dionne Jr., Houston Chronicle
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
