clagerwey 's review for:

Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley

4.0

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McCaulley's book is an important voice in discussions of biblical interpretation and racial (in)justice in the 21st century. The book is surprisingly lucid for a book on biblical interpretation, but McCaulley does not skimp on the biblical or academic references. He uses both judiciously to make his points. I appreciated his easy integration of more abstract exegesis debates with concrete praxis related to political turmoil in the 21st century. He strikes an admirable third-way between mainstream, progressive Christianity that neglects biblical orthodoxy and traditional, evangelical Christianity that typically sidelines biblical orthopraxy, especially related to race. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in racial justice, biblical interpretation, Black church history, and/or the relevance of the biblical text to US society in the 21st century.