A challenge to church leaders about social justice, a guest article about Hariette Beecher Stowe and William Wells Brown.

Even though William Wells Brown and Harriet Beecher Stowe speak from widely divergent backgrounds (black/white, slave/free, male/female, richer/poorer), their concerns unite when they speak about the pivotal role which Christian Education assumed for itself in the lives of antebellum slaves. As will be seen in this short essay, Stowe and Brown recognize not just the Bible hermeneutics of the oppressor, but also the application of the same through catechesis to the lives of the oppressed. Brown’s chapter “The Religious Teacher” appearing in his novel Clotel, Or the President’s Daughter; and Stowe’s, chapter “Topsy” located in her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; reference a very common practice amongst slave holders, the use of catechisms.[1]

As regards the narrators’ perspective in these passages, Stowe looks especially from without to within with full compassion, but with the limited access of a non-slave. Her narrator voice, naturally different from Brown’s, is a voice affected by looking across the Ohio River. Biographer Noel Gerson explains how

In 1833 … Harriet Beecher Stowe first became aware of the slavery as a living institution. In New England she had politely deplored slavery as an abstraction and remained untouched… But no one who lived in Cincinnati could ignore the challenge of slavery which existed across the Ohio in Kentucky. (Harriet 36)

Even as narrator Stowe sees an enslaved community by looking across the Ohio, Brown looks at and within his community, looking across to the oppressed. As a slave participant, Brown certainly sees what an antebellum white normally cannot; Stowe as an abolitionist white woman sees many times what a White man won’t. What antebellum Whites cannot or will not see concern both Stowe and Brown.

Specifically, in Brown’s “The Religious Teacher”, social control shapes a Bible hermeneutic favoring those who tower above, the slave owners. Human owners of other humans equate their words with God’s words, establishing oppressive norms to become the locus of authority. Twice in the catechetical moments of this chapter, Brown represents how religious slave owners read the New Testament to slaves who, interestingly, cannot read for themselves: “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearful, fearing God” (an isolated quotation of Colossians 3:-23); and, “He that knoweth his Master’s will, and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes” (a quotation of Luke 12:47, a phrase removed for social expediency from its original New Testament context). Furthermore, Brown unites these catechetical questions and answers, the call and response, with a then commonly held belief. Africans bear in their persons the curse of Ham: “The Lord intended the Negros for Slaves” (“The Religious Teacher”). For Brown, masters do more than speak for God. They speak as god.

Gary M. Burge, Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to “Holy Land” Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic: 2010), 176 pages, ISBN 9780801038983.

Affirming the normal human practice of attaching oneself to land—of having a place to call home—Burge recognizes the practical and political challenges this desire poses for both Palestinians and Israelis. In agreement with D. Boyarin’s A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity (1994), Burge says that “If the Jewish people are the indigenous people of this land, then the Palestinians are indigenous nowhere. And if the Palestinians are indigenous there, then the Jewish people are indigenous nowhere” (x, xi).

He addresses how he believes Christians can view the “competing land claims” of the Palestinians and Israelis by isolating and offering key questions for an ongoing discussion. What is the relationship between land and theology in the New Testament? What did Jesus and the New Testament writers think about the territorial claims of ancient Israel? Did they retain the view of the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Temple? Were they rethinking the relationship between faith and locale? Or were they confident that a sacred place was still to be held for believers?

Burge, of course, answers these questions. For example, he believes “the early Christians possessed no territorial theology; and “Early Christian preaching [was] utterly uninterested in Jewish eschatology [that] devoted [itself] to the restoration of the land” (59). In his view, for instance, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews would “never have been inclined to see the politics of Judaea as an appropriate venue for Christian interest” (107). This is because God’s focus is not the Land, but the world. The Land is but a small, though vital, part of that world.

While some readers may not feel comfortable with some of his amillennial leanings; nevertheless, his discussion pushes the conversation forward. Now we know the questions we should be asking.

Reviewed by Carolyn D. Baker

Publisher’s page: bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/jesus-and-the-land/322870

Dean Merrill, Damage Control: How to Stop Making Jesus Look Bad (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2006), 174 pages, ISBN 9780801065651.

From the journalist and author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Church (1997) comes yet another volume which speaks to the too often “narrow-minded, exclusionary, and pushy” (back cover) presentation of the Christian Gospel. Believing that Christians do not live as individuals, but that they are “viewed as a collective body and representation of their leader Jesus Christ”, Merrill is very quick to affirm that what Christians do “reflects on the entire group, including its leader, Jesus Christ.” For Merrill, Christians and Christ are “inseparable in the public mind” (Merrill, 16).

Far from being a negative critique of current Christian testimony, Merrill also affirms the positive ways many Christians live out their faith in today’s world. He describes the responses of many Christians he recently interviewed for this book. When asked this question: “What makes you proud to be a Christian?” his respondents were quick to share their delight with the “ongoing programs of help for the needy, the sick, and the disadvantaged”. They admired” the bravery and endurance [of many] in the face of persecution, especially among Christians in the developing world”. His interviewees believed that “there is less denominational partisanship these days than in times past”, and that the Christian effort was effectively reducing “racism in American life”. Respondents also extolled the seeker sensitivity of many churches (Merrill 17). In the main, these Christians were generally satisfied with what they perceived as the Christian impact on the world.

Dean Merrill

In light of all this, he concludes with encouragements for his Christian reader to “bridge build”, to be a “representative of a higher kingdom based on love [leading] to the Way, in the pursuit of shalom” (117). Christians, says Merrill, should be persons of “one-way kindness” (chapter 11), “engaging real difficulties in a real world [giving] substance to the faith [they] possess” (131). He, therefore, calls for a Christian to present a clear and attractive message (chapter 11, 12).

Ultimately, Christian readers could do well by including this book in their devotional reading; and Damage Control could also serve as a discussion guide for groups seeking to be even more authentic in their witness for Christ.

Reviewed by Carolyn D. Baker

Further Reading:

The Pentecostal Evangel from the Assemblies of God interviewed Dean Merrill in 2006: http://www.ag.org/pentecostal-evangel/conversations2006/4810_Merrill.cfm

Written in honor of the late Charles Malik (1987), this short volume of eight essays celebrates his belief that the two tasks of Christian scholars in the public university involve redeeming the soul and redeeming the mind. Eight Christian educators from mostly non-theological academic disciplines respond to Malik’s challenging call in several ways.

Paul Gould begins by relating these tasks to the fully integrated life of the Christian scholar (chapter 1). Then Lebanon based scholar Habib Malik, Charles’ only son, speaks about the perspectives that Christian professors can offer in an era where worldviews and politics cause serious “crashes” in civilizations (chapter 3). Next, Peter Kreef’s essay calls Christian scholars to ardently pursue Malik’s two tasks in their own university settings (chapter 4). Then Walter Bradley (Chapter 5) outlines how believing professors can daily influence their secular academies. Robert Kaitia (Chapter 6) demonstrates the modern day implications of the Apostle Paul’s evangelism among the Athenians; while John North (Chapter 7) champions the application of Malik’s two tasks to the humanities.

Finally, editor William Lane Craig (Chapter 8) concludes this entire collection by repeating a unifying theme common to all of the essays. He reminds readers that “Christian academics stand on the church’s front line of the most important theaters in the culture war; that of the university” (188). He believes it therefore necessary for Christian scholars to engage intellectually with their discipline, as well as their Christian faith. He then asks that they remain mindful of their own personal, spiritual formation (188).

Certainly, this refreshing collection of multi-disciplinary academic voices contributes enheartening perspectives to other academics who also daily serve the public university as Christians. It reissues the rather lofty call of Charles Malik for our times: Christian academics are to redeem the soul, and redeem the mind of the university. Most practically, however, this anthology illustrates how professors can live as redeemed souls and redeemed minds in the university. This is by far the most practical and obtainable objective, especially in settings particularly antagonistic to Gospel witness.

Keith Augustus Burton, The Blessing of Africa: The Bible and African Christianity (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 294 pages, ISBN 9780830827626.

The recent increase of books about the African continent might seem almost mind boggling for readers interested in learning about Africa and its relevance to Christian theology. Just where does one begin? Thankfully, a reader might just want to begin here.

To an ever increasing collection of media comes a short yet comprehensive perspective for beginners and experts alike. While Burton’s viewpoint is by no means exhaustive or encyclopedic, it offers “a brief survey of the historical place of the Bible in the rhetorical land of Ham.” It offers information “…about biblical ‘Africans’ and significant ‘African people’ and events throughout the history of humanity.” It also places the story of the Bible and African Christianity in the wider global context (13).

Keith Augustus Burton, Ph.D., (Northwestern) is president of Life Heritage Ministries. He is also adjunct instructor of religion at the Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences and coordinator for the Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations at Oakwood University, where he previously served as a professor of theology.

Burton also promises that this book lacks “a reactionary Afro centric agenda.” He stresses that it does not seek to repudiate, but rather to agitate and educate (12). His work truly provides a perspective about the seamless relationship of Africa to the Biblical world, a connection that has been too often ignored by Western thinkers. So as a result, his work serves an ecumenical purpose. He wishes to draw Black Africans into greater solidarity “with their lighter skinned Hamitic siblings in the northernmost sections of modern continental Africa and the Middle East” (13).

Burton has divided his book into six parts. The first part gives a definition of Biblical Africa. The second part discusses the relationship between African ethnicity and geographical location. This is then followed by the third section which explains the openness of Africans to the gospel message. The fourth division sketches the development and spread of Islam in the Biblical land. In part five Burton explores the influence of European colonialism, and then concludes with an evaluation of the Bible in modern land of Ham.