African American Religious Life and the Story of Nimrod

About the Author ANTHONY B PINN is Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, USA. His publications include African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod and (co-editor) Loving the Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic, both published by Palgrave Macmillan.   ALLEN DWIGHT CALLAHAN is Professor of New Testament at Seminário Teológico Batista do Nordeste in Bahia, Brazil. His publications include The Living Book: African Americans and the Bible and A Love Supreme: A History of the Johannine Tradition. Product Description The biblical text and its key figures have played a prominent role in the development of religious discourse on pressing socio-political issues. Slavery and continued discrimination were given theological sanction through the Old Testament story of Ham, but what of his descendent Nimrod the hunter? Review Praise for African American Religious Life and the Story of Nimrod'This is an intriguing book from beginning to end. I learned a great deal from it both in terms of Biblical exegesis of the relevant texts, their historical usage for racist purposes, and their various contemporary uses by African Americans in their pursuit for enhanced dignity and cultural valorization. It can be an apt grounding for Biblical humanism on the one hand and for African American humanism on the other hand as some of the articles indicate. Yet, it can be used as a theological corrective for human aspirations towards domination, tyranny, and oppression as others demonstrate in their essays. The text results in a rich historical repository of racist interpretations that have demeaned the humanity of African peoples for many centuries. It is an important collective of essays on a subject of great interest to African peoples both within and without the theological and biblical academy.' Peter J. Paris, Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor Emeritus, Christian Social Ethics, Princeton Theology Seminary