African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation

Abstract

Abstract African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation is the first monograph devoted to investigating a historical trajectory of how African Americans have understood the apostle Paul and utilized his work in their own writings. The central question the book explores is how African Americans interpreted Paul and the Pauline epistles from the 1700s to the mid-twentieth century. Readers will find analyses of primary texts that include petitions, sermons, essays, and autobiographies. The book also examines conversion narratives from the formerly enslaved and their use of Paul to describe these supernatural encounters. The research included in the book involves a three-layered nexus of historical, theological, and biblical inquiry.