E.J. Dionne Jr.: Christianity’s African-American Soul

[and-justice-for-all]

Posted on Dec 22, 2006
By E.J. Dionne

“African-Americans read their own collective experience into the agony and exaltation of Jesus. The story of the Christ child, blessed by God yet born in the shadow of poverty and violence, was their story. Jesus’ humble birth in antiquity signified the humble origins of African peoples in modernity. In his impoverished entry into the world, Jesus turned the tables on earthly valuations. Fulfilling the promise of the oracle that celebrates his advent in a stable, the hills of the privileged and the valleys of the humble are inverted, marking the beginning of a new era.”

-- Allen Dwight Callahan in “The Talking Book: African-Americans and the Bible.”

more: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20061222_ej_dionne_jr_christianitys_african_american_soul/