February 10, 2000
Contact: Lew Harris, (615) 322-NEWS
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Young African Americans' abandonment of Bible spurs Jubilee Edition
Bible not just for white people, says co-editor of African American edition
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Bible has been a tool that has helped African Americans survive slavery, segregation and racism. But many young blacks view it as a book with little relevance to their lives, says a contributor to a new publication designed to strengthen younger generations' understanding of the link between black history and scriptures.
"Suffice it to say that among African American youth there is this sense that the Bible is for white people - that it was written by white people and aimed at white people," said Vanderbilt University history professor Dennis Dickerson.
Fear that young African Americans were abandoning a tool that had helped their ancestors through so much hardship helped spur publication of the recently released African American Jubilee Edition of the Bible, he said. The 1,918-page book combines the traditional biblical text with 300 pages of articles by a range of black scholars about black history and Christian heritage. Dickerson wrote a chapter on the history of the black church and also read and edited each article along with fellow senior adviser the Rev. Thomas Hoyt, a bishop in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. "There is no sense that the scriptures are grounded in The African and Afro American experience," Dickerson said.
That misconception, he said, is behind the growing appeal of the Nation of Islam among young black males. "It has been presented as a natural religion for people of African descent. I have a great respect for that religion but I contend that there is a stronger argument to be made that the Bible is grounded, from ancient times to modern times, in the African and Afro American experience.
"It is not a book that is solely aimed at Caucasians. It's aimed at everybody, of course."
Dickerson cited several examples to support his contention. Luke the physician, author of the Book of Luke, was a man of color and not a Caucasian, as was Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry the cross to Calvary. One article in the new Bible also notes that the Hebrew of the Old Testament falls within the same family of ancient languages used in several parts of Africa.
The Vanderbilt professor, who is also an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the official historian for that denomination, said the new Bible is not intended only for African Americans "Caucasians need to know this information as well as African Americans," he said.
"There are also many predominantly white denominations that have significant African American membership," Dickerson said. "This Jubilee Bible is one way to reach out to their African American members." He noted that the United Methodist Church has "a very large black constituency" and that up to two million Catholics are African Americans.
To promote the new Bible, a series of city-by-city celebrations is being held throughout the year. The first was held in Atlanta in late December.
The name of the edition comes from Leviticus 25:8-12: "Jubilee is a time of reconciliation," Dickerson said. "It's a time of celebration, a time of inclusion."
The scholarly articles that serve as the preface to the Jubilee Bible cover a large variety of subjects-music, history, theology, anthropology, Biblical interpretation, linguistics, pastoral care and preaching. There are also many attractive illustrations and maps. The book was sponsored by the nonprofit American Bible Society. Dickerson is a member of the board of directors of the society, which expects to sell at least 200,000 copies of the new Bible this year and a million during the next five years.
"The scholarship in the book is impeccable and broad," he said. "The articles themselves, if they were lifted out of the Jubilee Bible, would comprise a very, very important volume on the African American religious experience. "This is truly a collective effort. There is no single authorship here. I believe in the project and believe it is going to be a great benefit in blessing to many people."
Although scholarly, the articles are easily understood by lay people, Dickerson added.The book comes in both the King James and contemporary English versions.
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