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

Reading While Black belongs to a growing body of literature that engages in the critical processes of deconstructing a Eurocentric Christianity tied to colonization. This literature aims to reflect the diverse experiences and histories of Christians worldwide. Through decentering from the West and whiteness, decolonial theology rethinks the interaction between religious tradition and political space, opening up a dialogue about doctrinal commitments between colonizers and the colonized. Concomitant with the emergence of decolonial theology was the rise of liberation theologies. Liberation theologies emphasize political freedom for marginalized groups, and this can be in terms of class, gender, race, or other social categories. Accordingly, there are various strands of liberation theology, such as Latin American liberation theology, Black liberation theology, and womanist/feminist liberation theology,

A shared aspect of decoloniality and liberation is the wedding of theory and praxis, so decolonial theology and liberation theologies develop in conversation with one another. Decoloniality’s focus on power, subjectivity, and resistance provides a unifying theme around which disparate liberation theologies converge. Meanwhile, liberation theologies provide decolonial theology with the various modes of social analysis required to deconstruct Western/Eurocentric worldviews and their operation in religious belief and practice. Reading While Black, then, emerges out of these paradigms of decoloniality and liberation; McCaulley highlights the subjectivity of early Black Christians and locates early Black Christianity in an era prior to colonialism and modernity.