Description
Book SynopsisChristianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Culture & the Arts) Midwest Book Review 2023 Gold Book Award Winner (Nonfiction - Religion/Philosophy) Learning from Black voices means listening to more than snippets. It means attending to Black stories. Reading Black Books helps Christians hear and learn from enduring Black voices and stories as captured in classic African American literature. Pastor and teacher Claude Atcho offers a theological approach to 10 seminal texts of 20th-century African American literature. Each chapter takes up a theological category for inquiry through a close literary reading and theological reflection on a primary literary text, from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Richard Wright's Native Son to Zora Neale Hurston's Moses, Man of the Mountain and James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain. The book includes end-of-chapter discussion questions. Reading Black Books helps readers of all backgrounds learn from the contours of Christian faith formed and forged by Black stories, and it spurs continued conversations about racial justice in the church. It demonstrates that reading about Black experience as shown in the literature of great African American writers can guide us toward sharper theological thinking and more faithful living.
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction
1. Image of God: Ralph Ellison's
Invisible Man2. Sin: Richard Wright's
Native Son3. God: James Baldwin's
Go Tell It on the Mountain4. Jesus: Countee Cullen's "Christ Recrucified" and "The Black Christ"
5. Salvation: Zora Neale Hurston's
Moses, Man of the Mountain6. Racism: Nella Larsen's
Passing7. Healing and Memory: Toni Morrison's
Beloved8. Lament: W. E. B. Du Bois's "The Litany of Atlanta"
9. Justice: Richard Wright's
The Man Who Lived Underground10. Hope: Margaret Walker's "For My People"
Discussion Questions
