Reading Race, Reading the Bible

Rating:
Summary: Race implies Religous Doctrine?? Let's Talk!!
Review: Excellent Scholarship! Accessibly written, Peter Nash's "Reading Race, Reading the Bible" is -- at least -- a much needed service to the 'community of scholars' it targets. Effectively "mining" archived research resources on five continents that were uniquely accessible to him while on location where they were housed (i.e., in Europe, North America, South America, South Asia, and Africa), Dr. Nash's treatment -- at minimum -- brings a relatively comprehensive and rigorous treatment of the subject. His engaging treatment is one done in a way that spans anthropological, theological, historical and sociological disciplines.
More to the point, Nash's treatment of what is essentially a doggedly avoided topic of "race and religion" places the onus for failing to seriously engage in a scholarly dialogue of the subject where it squarely resides. That onus rests on the pervasive practice of western society to avoid - and perhaps maintain a prejudicial bias against -- the thoroughly justifiable embrace of the non-western roots of Christianity - itself THE primary monotheistic religious practiced in contemporary pan-European nations. As Nash advances it, it is this routine practice adopted as "the received view" -- derived from a flawed assumption of the "racial/cultural" genesis of contemporary western Christianity -- that is the key source of the difficulties discussed. By implication, Nash argues that it is this apparently pervasive uninformed practice which leads to a flawed interpretation of what constitutes "suitable" and "orthodox" Christian theology. This fundamental error holds even more profound implications with regard to the need to theoretically as well as culturally revamp, and, to develop a deeper understanding of what are essentially falsely perceived limits of what appropriately should be the "officially sanctioned" prerequisites of "orthodox" spiritual practices and theological interpretation as it is ascribed.
Cogent as his well-edited -- and compact -- treatise must be (after all, the text is, sans endnotes, less than 80 pgs. in length), the work holds the promise of it very effectively linking the interfaces of the relevant multiple scholarly "communities of practice" impacted. That is also a major aspect of its appeal. These contemporary lines of inquiry are artificially imposed barriers. Barriers that when beached, provide new and a promisingly rich set of novel lines of further inquiry: suggesting exciting -- and fruitful -- future scholarship.
Perhaps of equal value for the reader is the manner in which Nash provides a treatment of the key themes. These themes -- as well as reference materials available -- when applied to scholarship, effectively build and support a bridge between the kind of robust, contemporary pedestrian church-held tenants -- such as those routinely exercised in the present day African American church in it's most rudimentary evangelical forms; and, the widely accepted theological frameworks -- such as those "universally" advanced in currently highly regarded (i.e., "juried") journals.
Certain aspects of contemporary theological frameworks are increasingly becoming viewed as more and more "inaccessible", and "irrelevant". As a result, current select framework development is being placed under increasing pressure to reform as well - primarily through the recommended use of more exacting "culturally blind" scholarship. This pressure to reform is such that the kind of innovative approaches called for by Nash's discussion hold the promise of leading to more robustly developed scholarship being performed within the corridors of the theological departments of the "world class" 'academy'. These are the university departments known as adhering to strictest academic standards.
With its interdisciplinary sweep, Professor Nash effectively confronts various and oft employed approaches to the dismissal of this significant topic. Through the application of his more comprehensive set of University of Chicago-bred field research methodologies and theoretical treatments (as one might expect), recent and innovative streams of research (further benefiting from his extensive visiting professorships and globetrotting research opportunities) are integrated in a way that allows Peter Nash to promote, augment, and advance the kind of serious dialogue that the subject area deserves.
It is a "Must Read" - reference and sense making -- for the serious theological scholar: "black", "white", or "human being". Seminal!

Rating:
Summary: Race implies Religous Doctrine?? Let's Talk!!
Review: Excellent Scholarship! Accessibly written, Peter Nash's "Reading Race, Reading the Bible" is -- at least -- a much needed service to the 'community of scholars' it targets. Effectively "mining" archived research resources on five continents that were uniquely accessible to him while on location where they were housed (i.e., in Europe, North America, South America, South Asia, and Africa), Dr. Nash's treatment -- at minimum -- brings a relatively comprehensive and rigorous treatment of the subject. His engaging treatment is one done in a way that spans anthropological, theological, historical and sociological disciplines.
More to the point, Nash's treatment of what is essentially a doggedly avoided topic of "race and religion" places the onus for failing to seriously engage in a scholarly dialogue of the subject where it squarely resides. That onus rests on the pervasive practice of western society to avoid - and perhaps maintain a prejudicial bias against -- the thoroughly justifiable embrace of the non-western roots of Christianity - itself THE primary monotheistic religious practiced in contemporary pan-European nations. As Nash advances it, it is this routine practice adopted as "the received view" -- derived from a flawed assumption of the "racial/cultural" genesis of contemporary western Christianity -- that is the key source of the difficulties discussed. By implication, Nash argues that it is this apparently pervasive uninformed practice which leads to a flawed interpretation of what constitutes "suitable" and "orthodox" Christian theology. This fundamental error holds even more profound implications with regard to the need to theoretically as well as culturally revamp, and, to develop a deeper understanding of what are essentially falsely perceived limits of what appropriately should be the "officially sanctioned" prerequisites of "orthodox" spiritual practices and theological interpretation as it is ascribed.
Cogent as his well-edited -- and compact -- treatise must be (after all, the text is, sans endnotes, less than 80 pgs. in length), the work holds the promise of it very effectively linking the interfaces of the relevant multiple scholarly "communities of practice" impacted. That is also a major aspect of its appeal. These contemporary lines of inquiry are artificially imposed barriers. Barriers that when beached, provide new and a promisingly rich set of novel lines of further inquiry: suggesting exciting -- and fruitful -- future scholarship.
Perhaps of equal value for the reader is the manner in which Nash provides a treatment of the key themes. These themes -- as well as reference materials available -- when applied to scholarship, effectively build and support a bridge between the kind of robust, contemporary pedestrian church-held tenants -- such as those routinely exercised in the present day African American church in it's most rudimentary evangelical forms; and, the widely accepted theological frameworks -- such as those "universally" advanced in currently highly regarded (i.e., "juried") journals.
Certain aspects of contemporary theological frameworks are increasingly becoming viewed as more and more "inaccessible", and "irrelevant". As a result, current select framework development is being placed under increasing pressure to reform as well - primarily through the recommended use of more exacting "culturally blind" scholarship. This pressure to reform is such that the kind of innovative approaches called for by Nash's discussion hold the promise of leading to more robustly developed scholarship being performed within the corridors of the theological departments of the "world class" 'academy'. These are the university departments known as adhering to strictest academic standards.
With its interdisciplinary sweep, Professor Nash effectively confronts various and oft employed approaches to the dismissal of this significant topic. Through the application of his more comprehensive set of University of Chicago-bred field research methodologies and theoretical treatments (as one might expect), recent and innovative streams of research (further benefiting from his extensive visiting professorships and globetrotting research opportunities) are integrated in a way that allows Peter Nash to promote, augment, and advance the kind of serious dialogue that the subject area deserves.
It is a "Must Read" - reference and sense making -- for the serious theological scholar: "black", "white", or "human being". Seminal!