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Black Presence In The Bible

Black Presence in the Bible
Instructor: Deacon Alfonso Campbell Jr.
Location: Fellowship Hall

To celebrate Black History Month, we will examine the lives of Black people in the Bible. We are embarking on this study to debunk the faulty misconception that persons of African descent do not appear in the Bible. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, many scholars of European descent had written their books and commentaries on the Bible from the perspective that there were no people of color mentioned in the Scriptures. We will draw primarily from the scholarship of Black theologians, scholars, and clergy to present another viewpoint about this issue. To be sure, when biblical scriptures were written, race was not a category used to establish a person’s social identity. In fact, a person’s skin color is rarely mentioned in the Bible. But, based on the geographical locations of key cities in the text, one could very easily assume that many of the Bible’s key figures are people of color. The color of one’s skin is meaningless to the basic message of the Bible. It is difficult to see the Black presence in the Bible because you won’t read the terms Black or African, but you will read the terms Ethiopians, Cushites, Egyptians, or other ethnic terms. Ethiopia is mentioned forty-five times in the Bible; add this to the number of times Egypt is mentioned, and Africa is mentioned more than any other landmass in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation there is evidence of a Black presence in the Bible. Come join us as we search the scriptures to gain key insights about these biblical characters.