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This is a good book to read now and to be exposed, at least by way of
reminder, to the horrors of slavery. Learn how that experience influenced, and
still influences, African American preachers. You will appreciate the richness
of preachers in the Old South, understand the fundamentals of Black Liberation
Theology, and be exposed to the views of Bishop T. D. Jakes and Creflo A.
Dollar, Jr.
Many of us have never taken this tour and know little of the “black” church,
its struggles and its vitality. Our guide is the senior pastor at First Baptist
Church of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. His six chapters describe the
decline in doctrine in several areas of major importance: the doctrines of
revelation, God, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, and pneumatology.
In each chapter, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile moves through five periods of
history, from the early slavery era to the “Postmodern Era (1980-present).” The
abundant quotations may cause rejoicing at the proclamation of the gospel or
sorrow as the gospel is misrepresented by professors and preachers. But the
author is always clear in terms of the perspective from which he writes. In the
forward, Mark Noll affirms, “how Rev. Anyabwile himself interprets the
theological history he narrates so well will not please all readers, since he
makes that interpretation from his position as a firm theologian of the old
Puritan school.”
The extended discussion of the origins and development of Black Liberation
Theology in the 1960s is supported by many quotations from James H. Cone. Since
the movement and his name have been prominent in newspapers and on television in
recent months, this book is all the more relevant, especially among those with
little background in the material. Anyabwile writes of Cone’s views in
soteriology, “The fundamental problem facing humanity was not sin and broken
fellowship with God in the traditional sense, but the tyrannical powers of the
ruling class.”
What Anyabwile defines as decline in the African American Church is a
“mirror- image” of change in the broader church. J.I. Packer in Fundamentalism
and the Word of God identified three ultimate authorities in Christendom: the
Bible, the church, or reason. Perhaps “experience” should be added to that list.
Revelation is now thought not to be found in an objective word from God, but in
our past and present experience. We should all recognize the overwhelming
experience that slavery was and the validity of any continuing experience of
inequity in our (or another) society. But Anyabwile maintains that “…outside the
Bible there is only idolatry.”
The book’s concluding section surveys its contents and comments that “ faulty
theology is not a victimless crime.” It offe rs four directions in which the
African American church should move:
Re-center the Bible – “ We need to read the Bible, sing the Bible, preach the
Bible, pray the Bible, think the Bible and live the Bible.” Re-exalt God – “If
ever we needed a God-sized view of God it is now.” R e c over the Gospel – “ The
good news about … Jesus Christ is worth fighting for; without it, we all
perish.” Revitalize the Church – “ The church needs to be revitalized with a
sound theology and praxis governed by the Word of God.”
These are appropriate suggestions for many churches. In conclusion, the
extensive bibliography demonstrates that this work is only an introductory
survey. Also, the development of African American theology may not be as linear
as Anyabwile indicates. Today, for example, many African American pastors may be
preaching the biblical gospel of grace, while feeling that God is also at work
among their people as they seek adjustment of inequities in society
—George Fuller Consultant for Seniors' Ministries
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