“In African American Readings of Paul, Lisa Bowens ably proves how a select set of African American interpreters of Paul from the 1700s through the 1900s wrestled Paul from the grips of pro-slavery and anti-Black interpretations. Bowens demonstrates how these African American authors interpreted Paul in subversive, disruptive, and revolutionary ways.”
“What happens when African Americans are at the center of Pauline interpretation? This book provides an answer by tracing African American interpretation of Paul from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Here we find not the Paul used by slaveholders or white racists who calls for submission and blind obedience, but Paul the liberator, the spiritual guide to the third heaven, and the champion of bodily integrity. While not all African American interpreters embraced Pauline texts, Bowens shows how many of them did, employing Paul’s words in provocative and powerful ways. Students and faith leaders will welcome this text for the fresh insights it gives into Paul’s letters.”
“In this singular work on the reception history of Paul among African Americans from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, Dr. Bowens has provided us with a densely packed treasure-trove of information, analysis, and insight. Bowens elegantly and compellingly demonstrates the central role Paul plays in the struggle for African Americans to confront white supremacy and the dehumanization of black bodies across centuries. If you are looking for one book that will bring you up to date on African American hermeneutics, this is it. Bowens has taught me new knowledge and has provided me a way to draw students into the study of Paul in a gripping, relevant way.”