My Thoughts on Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley
Aaron Sharp | March 8, 2021
If you read this blog regularly you know how my book reactions go. If not, here is the disclaimer which at this point isn’t necessary, but it’s my blog so I’m leaving it in.
Aaron’s Book Reaction Disclaimer: The premise is that one of my readers is asking me questions. For the record, this is just a device I am using to have fun. I’m the one asking and answering. It’s more interesting for me to write them this way, and it gives the other voices in my head a chance to talk.
Today the book I’ll be reacting to is Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley.
So what made you choose this book?
I think choosing this book really boiled down to something I am always telling my kids. With four kids I spend an awful lot of time refereeing, and trying to help small humans negotiate their way through growing up surrounded by other small humans trying to grow up. I find myself constantly urging my kids to think about what their words or actions sound like to other people, specifically their parents and their siblings. There are a lot of days that it doesn’t feel like my urging is having a lot of effect, but I am hopeful that hearing their dad repeatedly pleading with them to be empathetic will one day kick in.
The necessity of empathy is really why I wanted to read Esau McCaulley’s book. I think people in general, and Christians in particular, and white Christians even more specifically spend very little time considering how things look, feel, and sound to someone else. In a lot of ways I think it is almost impossible to walk a mile in another person’s shoes, but I think the Gospel should compel us to make every effort to understand life for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Okay, if you wanted to gain empathy, where is somewhere you feel like that happened for you?
Something that maybe I should have thought about, but hadn’t before I read this book was the tightrope that is walked by all African American Christians, and particularly those studying theology or ministering in some way. So much of the skirmishing in the modern theological culture between conservatives and progressives makes it feel like truly following the Scriptures means you are going to get shot at by all sides. This is infinitely more complicated for an African American than it is for a white person, and I can tell you it isn’t a lot of fun if you’re white.
I think this quote really sums up the challenge, “The Black Christian is often beset from the left and the right. Those on the right too often contend that the Bible speaks to their souls and not the liberation of their bodies. Those on the left maintain that those on the right are correct. The Bible doesn’t clearly address the needs of Black and Brown folks. Therefore, it must either be supplemented or replaced. I am not claiming that the Bible outlines the policies necessary for the proper functioning of a Democratic Republic. I am saying that it outlines the basic principles and critiques of power that equip Black Christians for their life and work in these United States.”
What was unexpected for you in this book?
Definitely the depth and breadth of the exegesis. I wasn’t surprised that there was exegesis, or that it was top-notch, but I didn’t anticipate how much of the book was heavy on exegesis. Going in I thought there would be more about the African-American history of interpretation, and there was certainly plenty, but this book is dripping with exegesis. I think it maybe a quirk of Biblical interpretation that too often when we talk interpretation we talk about everything except the actual documents we are interpreting. This book really finds a sweet spot in this discussion.
What was the book’s high point for you?
I’d have to say that the chapter comparing Romans soldiers to modern-day policing was eye-opening. I had never considered, possibly because I’d never been compelled to consider, the parallels between what passed for policing in the Roman Empire, and what we call policing today. Too often I’ve just defaulted to a view that what we are doing today doesn’t really have a parallel, but after reading this I don’t think that it is true. There are some very real lines that can be drawn over the last two thousand years that give us some tangible applications for how to think about policing in a Biblical way.
Was there anything in this book that you disagree with or objected to?
No, not really, after all this is a book largely about someone else’s perspective and experience. There are moments in any relationship, say a marriage for example, where you find yourself having to put effort into listening and not interrupting. In any relationship this is a wonderful habit to cultivate, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to listen and allow someone their space when whatever the issue is seems simple to you because that experience isn’t yours. It’s just so easy to just interrupt and say, “That’s not a thing,” without hearing where someone is coming from. I think reading a book is a lot the same way. There are times that you want to interrupt the writer, and you feel yourself saying, “But, but, but…” I would say reading as Esau talks about working through some of the African American emotions on Paul are like that. As a white person the fact that people have misused Paul’s writings (or the Old Testament for that matter) doesn’t have the same sting for me because that isn’t a part of my history. Well, that isn’t really true, because it is a part of my history too, but it isn’t a part of my history in the same way. People who looked like me misused Paul to enslave people who didn’t look like me. I don’t think we’ve done enough to grapple with that honestly. This was a good opportunity for me to remind myself that my reactions aren’t infallible. I guess that’s a long-winded (I am a writer after all) way of saying that I didn’t find any great points of disagreement – if I took the time to listen.
Last question, did you have a favorite quote from the book?
I know a lot of people point to a book’s opening line as important, but one thing I’ve found is that I love a book conclusion that really lands the plane. I think McCaulley’s closing is just superb.
“The questions I have asked deserve much greater scrutiny. These chapters are sketches toward a much deeper and wider engagement with the Bible and the hopes of Black folks. The question of policing in the New Testament and its relationship to Black bodies in this country is a monograph begging to be written. (You had better hurry because I might write it first.) Our theology of public witness and protest in the field of biblical studies remains anemic. We have allowed a few misapplied passages to dominate the conversation for far too long. We have allowed man made (I use the term man intentionally) rules to create a hermeneutical prison that traps biblical scholarship in the past. It is time to let the lion out to hunt. Ethnic identity and the Christian community, a question asked and answered a generation ago must be addressed again in our day so that our people know that God glories in the distinctive gifts we all bring into the kingdom. Black pain and the anger rising from it is not going away. Therefore, the long tradition of Black reflection on our pain will continue. The slave question will be with us until the eschaton. Therefore we must continue to read, write, interpret, and hope until the advent of the one who will answer all our questions, or render them redundant.”