Africa and the Bible: Corrective Lenses-Critical Essays

Africa and the Bible is a collection of essays about the African influence on and presence in the Old Testament written over Gene Rices more than fifty years of scholarly service at Howard University School of Divinity. They focus on characters with African heritage such as Ebed-melech and Jehudi in Jeremiah and the prophet Zephaniah himself as well as dealing with texts that have been misinterpreted to the detriment of African-Americans such as the story of the curse of Canaan in which Ham and all his dark-skinned descendants are the ones viewed as cursed. One article provides evidence that the original worshippers of YHWH may have been from the land of Kush! One of Rices earliest articles deals with the story of Joseph and relates it to Jim Crow; Rice finds in the story a model for racial reconciliation that is still relevant today. With a foreword by his colleague of many years Cain Hope Felder Professor of New Testament at Howard University School of Divinity now retired and a preface by Jonathan Rice Gene Rices son the book is a treasure-trove of carefully researched thought-provoking articles and a perfect supplement to be used alongside a Hebrew Bible textbook.