How about a collection of stories of ordinary people taking steps to fight injustice? How are people doing things in their own way to build bridges, talk to others, write articles, start groups, stand up and change the world? Each of us in our own way needs to use our influence to fight inequality and it’s not just particating in a demonstrations or writing a letter. We must each fight apathy and complacency. I think these stories could be inspiring !
Dr Tisby- thanks so much for hosting the zoom call for your newsletter subscribers yesterday. Sorry I couldn’t stay for the whole thing. But I was interested to meet some of the other people and hear who they are and what they’re doing to fight injustice. I hope you’ll do it again! Thank you!
Interview co-authors, Mark Charles and Soong Cha Rah about the Doctrine of Discovery. They wrote, Unsettling Truths: the Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. Or better yet, interview them on a specific aspect of their book or interview one of my them about a particular topic close to your heart.
Mark Charles is working on another book, but Soong Cha Rah has several. He is currently at Fuller in Pasadena.
I haven't been keeping up with podcasts. Did you already do any of the above? Did you already do one on the rise of Christian Nationalism
My feeble excuse: (I took on a new job this year. Teaching in a high school keeps me busy, so I take little time for keeping up with anything else).
I would appreciate a series on how to deal with people who deny the existence of structural and systemic racism especially when those people claim to love Jesus.
1) Race and disability... as an (Asian) special needs mom I've realized black kids are overrepresented and underserved in the special needs community. 2) Allyship... when it's done badly, and when it changes the world.
I would love to have you review or interview the curator of key museums that deal with the slavery/racism of our country. I recently visited the Harriet Beecher Stowe house in Hartford. Very good. And I recently lessened about the International African American Museum in Charleston SC. I’d love to learn about these place, what they hope to communicate etc.
Jemar, Thank you for all the important efforts you make to bring people to a better understanding of our nation's deeper and broader history than has been authored for so long. I am deeply concerned too many people believe silencing the voices of the past and present are the answer.
I am a Literacy Tutor (I wrote to you months ago about your concerns that your son did not value reading as much as you.), K-3rd grade levels, for Reading Corps, an AmeriCorps program. I try to find appropriate books for each of my children as a gift. Last week I read several early elementary level books as possible gifts, but I found too much of the literature re-lived traumatic history for my Black students. This is rarely the case in early lit for white children. My daughter, who is an Speech Language Pathologist has found the same problem when searching for middle school students.
Would you consider examining the various issues surrounding children's literature that attempts to reach Black children and invites white students to read these as everyday stories yet too often includes storylines of experiences that were traumatizing? Kim🌠
I would love a series on what warning signs to look out for in a church sermon or during fellowship time. Subtle references that a Pastor might say, talking points from far-right media, and so on.
I think many church goers who are not exposed to far-right, white-nationalist dog-whistles and ideology don't pick up on subtle things that are mentioned on a Sunday morning.
I left my small church (that I had been with for 20 years and considered family) because the pulpit was becoming an echo of Fox News. When I heard things that I, as a white, middle class suburban woman, found offensive to my Black brothers and sisters in Christ, I made the painful choice to leave. The exit interview I had to have with the elders confirmed my decision. I fear that many people of all races could be staying with a church that is becoming toxic, just because they are comfortable there, they have "good teaching" or that's where all their friends go. We need to face this issue.
All of the suggestions sound very interesting! Dr. Tisby, thank you for your work and advocacy with courage and creativity. Below are recent convictions in my learning journey:
1. Black Pride in the Bible and Bible (mis?)translation within the "western/white-centered church":
example: Black AND beautiful (Song of Solomon 1:5)
Jesus' ancestry from the line of David both from birth (Mary) and legal (Joseph) so Jesus had Jewish and African/Hamitic heritage. B
“...I have a standard statement for students: “Any translation of the Bible will tell us the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It will also tell you of the trials and struggle of Christian communities trying their best to live lives indicative of the king that they claimed to follow.” It is almost impossible to get that story wrong.
Nonetheless, language is a living, evolving thing. From time to time, Christians have created new Bible translations to communicate its meaning to a new generation. The translations that fill my classroom and the pews of America attest to the many attempts to do this.
If the various Bibles get the main story correct, how do we account for the differences among translations? Isn’t translation simply a matter of translating Greek and Hebrew words into English? Yes and no.
Translation is rarely the work of a single individual. It usually involves a committee that struggles to answer the following question: How do we communicate the truths contained in the Scriptures so that people will understand what the authors intended to communicate?
If the Christian Church recognizes that its very diversity testifies to the universal saving power of its message, then it stands to reason that the gifts and insights of various ethnicities can only be a boon to Bible translation. The insight, experience and skills of female scholars might open our eyes to nuances that a committee of all men might miss. Christians for whom English is a second language might highlight ways in which our word choice is unclear. Similarly, black Christians may call to mind neglected aspects of the text.”
Who is at the discussion, voting, and deciding translations? (Slavery in the Bible, Onesimus as a fugitive or runaway?)
“Like the KJV, fourteen of the twenty-six versions offer a grammatically impossible translation with “but.” Four others offer a similarly impossible translation of “yet.” Only eight versions correctly translate the text’s “and.” “Consequently, eighteen of these modern English translations—an arresting sixty-nine percent—give readers a wrong translation that perpetuates an anti-Black idea about beauty that the original Hebrew rejects. Thus sayeth the Lord, indeed.”
(ie: translation “and” is in NASB, New American Standard Bible, 2020 text). We're told that the Song of Solomon is an allegory of Christ as the Bridegroom with the Church as His Bride. So it seems many committees of translators disregarded the imagery describing the Church as the Bride of Christ with the Black and Beautiful imagery? Solomon himself is of Hamitic descent as the son of Bathsheba and David. Jesus himself was biologically of both Jewish and African/Hamitic descent from the line of David.)
Tony Evans, “Black Presence in the Bible” in Oneness Embraced: Reconciliation,The Kingdom, and How We are Stronger Together (2011), 109-125. [On Song of Solomon, 119-120].
“Scripture is clearly the primary source for legitimate Black Pride…. (with) “black biblical history.” (112-113).
2. The often misconstrued book of Esther is a reminder to speak truth to power when someone/group of people is mistreated with the many similarities within U.S. history (racial genocide and captivity with mistreatment of: Indigenous Peoples, African-Americans (including chattel slavery and mass incarceration, continued inequities,) Japanese-Americans within internment camps, turning away Jews fleeing Nazis during the holocaust and rising antiSemitism, treatment of immigrants and separation of families, and racism against Asian-Americans and Middle-Eastern Americans, etc.) The book of Esther provides examples of speaking truth to power like Queen Vashti, Mordecai, Esther (as her Persian name from the Hebrew name of Hadassah,) and the royal eunuch, Hathach, who served as Queen Esther’s loyal messenger. Even in this biblical book without direct mention of God and named after the replacement queen's Persian name, we are reminded that with God’s help, I can speak up when someone is treated badly. I can choose to live God’s ways instead of mistreating people and without equity. We can relate more like Jesus, the church of Acts with minority leadership, and Zacchaeus (confession and restitution).(Biblical Black pride, Bible translation, intentional relating with equity in diverse relationships even in church communities)?
My pastor launched a Diversity committee specifically celebrating "Openness, Transparency, and Accountability" which she said are not standard in all-white congregations. She argued that much church decision-making/leadership is closed and hidden, and thus not welcoming to "others." What practices/policies in our churches impede realizing our vision of a "Beloved Community"?
Classical Christian education and the role it plays in reinforcing the white washing of history as well as its connection to churches and how it affects the culture created in those spaces esp if that is not how you choose to educate. Or how it keeps minority voices and stories from being included.
The podcast has been active in my rotation for years. Tyler Burns was sort of getting into preacher mode and said “do not give them your dignity” it has stuck with me for years and helped me out of the closet. It would be nice to see how the gospel is liberative for all folx. Love your work and podcast, and I have noticed some movement to include women, but the podcast seems to focus on straight black men’s experiences. Would love to see series with womanist and queer folx. They are asking why should we give up are dignity?
Contact Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, MD and/ or her father Dr. Joseph Nnodim to discuss any of several topics including Dr. Opara’s work in anti-racist action; Dr. Nnodim’s recent book, Toward Understanding the Nigeria-Biafra war; primary care in Detroit; and why evangelical Christians should pay attention to colonial overtones in the use of “mission” and similar ideas.
Dr. Opara hosts a videoconference called AIMART and I learned a lot while participating a few months back in a chat about responses to the death of the Queen of England.
Dive into the history and nuance of Justice Takes Sides, especially compared to the idea of Blind Justice and Equal Justice. How is it even a serious idea that Lady Justice wears a blindfold? The Declaration of Independence talks about “native justice and magnanimity” but what did that really mean? The first sentence of the U.S. Constitution seeks to “establish Justice” but reality shows us that if you have enough money and know the right people it is possible to establish “unequal justice under the law.”
How about a collection of stories of ordinary people taking steps to fight injustice? How are people doing things in their own way to build bridges, talk to others, write articles, start groups, stand up and change the world? Each of us in our own way needs to use our influence to fight inequality and it’s not just particating in a demonstrations or writing a letter. We must each fight apathy and complacency. I think these stories could be inspiring !
Dr Tisby- thanks so much for hosting the zoom call for your newsletter subscribers yesterday. Sorry I couldn’t stay for the whole thing. But I was interested to meet some of the other people and hear who they are and what they’re doing to fight injustice. I hope you’ll do it again! Thank you!
Interview co-authors, Mark Charles and Soong Cha Rah about the Doctrine of Discovery. They wrote, Unsettling Truths: the Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. Or better yet, interview them on a specific aspect of their book or interview one of my them about a particular topic close to your heart.
Mark Charles is working on another book, but Soong Cha Rah has several. He is currently at Fuller in Pasadena.
I haven't been keeping up with podcasts. Did you already do any of the above? Did you already do one on the rise of Christian Nationalism
My feeble excuse: (I took on a new job this year. Teaching in a high school keeps me busy, so I take little time for keeping up with anything else).
I would appreciate a series on how to deal with people who deny the existence of structural and systemic racism especially when those people claim to love Jesus.
Decolonizing Mental Health (and the church's role in that)
The impact of white evangelical church on sexuality/purity culture (and the role racism plays in purity culture)
1) Race and disability... as an (Asian) special needs mom I've realized black kids are overrepresented and underserved in the special needs community. 2) Allyship... when it's done badly, and when it changes the world.
I would love to have you review or interview the curator of key museums that deal with the slavery/racism of our country. I recently visited the Harriet Beecher Stowe house in Hartford. Very good. And I recently lessened about the International African American Museum in Charleston SC. I’d love to learn about these place, what they hope to communicate etc.
Jemar, Thank you for all the important efforts you make to bring people to a better understanding of our nation's deeper and broader history than has been authored for so long. I am deeply concerned too many people believe silencing the voices of the past and present are the answer.
I am a Literacy Tutor (I wrote to you months ago about your concerns that your son did not value reading as much as you.), K-3rd grade levels, for Reading Corps, an AmeriCorps program. I try to find appropriate books for each of my children as a gift. Last week I read several early elementary level books as possible gifts, but I found too much of the literature re-lived traumatic history for my Black students. This is rarely the case in early lit for white children. My daughter, who is an Speech Language Pathologist has found the same problem when searching for middle school students.
Would you consider examining the various issues surrounding children's literature that attempts to reach Black children and invites white students to read these as everyday stories yet too often includes storylines of experiences that were traumatizing? Kim🌠
I would love a series on what warning signs to look out for in a church sermon or during fellowship time. Subtle references that a Pastor might say, talking points from far-right media, and so on.
I think many church goers who are not exposed to far-right, white-nationalist dog-whistles and ideology don't pick up on subtle things that are mentioned on a Sunday morning.
I left my small church (that I had been with for 20 years and considered family) because the pulpit was becoming an echo of Fox News. When I heard things that I, as a white, middle class suburban woman, found offensive to my Black brothers and sisters in Christ, I made the painful choice to leave. The exit interview I had to have with the elders confirmed my decision. I fear that many people of all races could be staying with a church that is becoming toxic, just because they are comfortable there, they have "good teaching" or that's where all their friends go. We need to face this issue.
All of the suggestions sound very interesting! Dr. Tisby, thank you for your work and advocacy with courage and creativity. Below are recent convictions in my learning journey:
1. Black Pride in the Bible and Bible (mis?)translation within the "western/white-centered church":
example: Black AND beautiful (Song of Solomon 1:5)
Jesus' ancestry from the line of David both from birth (Mary) and legal (Joseph) so Jesus had Jewish and African/Hamitic heritage. B
Esau McCaulley, “Why it Matters if Your Bible was Translated by a Racially Diverse Group,” Washington Post, September 23, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/09/23/why-it-matters-if-your-bible-was-translated-by-racially-diverse-group/.
“...I have a standard statement for students: “Any translation of the Bible will tell us the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It will also tell you of the trials and struggle of Christian communities trying their best to live lives indicative of the king that they claimed to follow.” It is almost impossible to get that story wrong.
Nonetheless, language is a living, evolving thing. From time to time, Christians have created new Bible translations to communicate its meaning to a new generation. The translations that fill my classroom and the pews of America attest to the many attempts to do this.
If the various Bibles get the main story correct, how do we account for the differences among translations? Isn’t translation simply a matter of translating Greek and Hebrew words into English? Yes and no.
Translation is rarely the work of a single individual. It usually involves a committee that struggles to answer the following question: How do we communicate the truths contained in the Scriptures so that people will understand what the authors intended to communicate?
If the Christian Church recognizes that its very diversity testifies to the universal saving power of its message, then it stands to reason that the gifts and insights of various ethnicities can only be a boon to Bible translation. The insight, experience and skills of female scholars might open our eyes to nuances that a committee of all men might miss. Christians for whom English is a second language might highlight ways in which our word choice is unclear. Similarly, black Christians may call to mind neglected aspects of the text.”
Who is at the discussion, voting, and deciding translations? (Slavery in the Bible, Onesimus as a fugitive or runaway?)
Justin Taylor, “The ESV Translation Committee Debates the Translation of ‘“Slave,”’ The Gospel Coalition, November 7, 2011, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-esv-translation-committee-debates-the-translation-of-slave/.
Nathan Luis Caragena, “Is Your Bible Anti-Black,” World Outspoken, February 15, 2022, https://www.worldoutspoken.com/articles-blog/is-your-bible-anti-black.
Example of Song of Solomon 1:5, https://biblehub.com/songs/1-5.htm.
“Like the KJV, fourteen of the twenty-six versions offer a grammatically impossible translation with “but.” Four others offer a similarly impossible translation of “yet.” Only eight versions correctly translate the text’s “and.” “Consequently, eighteen of these modern English translations—an arresting sixty-nine percent—give readers a wrong translation that perpetuates an anti-Black idea about beauty that the original Hebrew rejects. Thus sayeth the Lord, indeed.”
(ie: translation “and” is in NASB, New American Standard Bible, 2020 text). We're told that the Song of Solomon is an allegory of Christ as the Bridegroom with the Church as His Bride. So it seems many committees of translators disregarded the imagery describing the Church as the Bride of Christ with the Black and Beautiful imagery? Solomon himself is of Hamitic descent as the son of Bathsheba and David. Jesus himself was biologically of both Jewish and African/Hamitic descent from the line of David.)
(ie: Wyatt Graham, “Three Ways We Misread Song of Songs,” Gospel Coalition, (August 25, 2017), https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/three-ways-misread-song-songs/.
Tony Evans, “Black Presence in the Bible” in Oneness Embraced: Reconciliation,The Kingdom, and How We are Stronger Together (2011), 109-125. [On Song of Solomon, 119-120].
“Scripture is clearly the primary source for legitimate Black Pride…. (with) “black biblical history.” (112-113).
2. The often misconstrued book of Esther is a reminder to speak truth to power when someone/group of people is mistreated with the many similarities within U.S. history (racial genocide and captivity with mistreatment of: Indigenous Peoples, African-Americans (including chattel slavery and mass incarceration, continued inequities,) Japanese-Americans within internment camps, turning away Jews fleeing Nazis during the holocaust and rising antiSemitism, treatment of immigrants and separation of families, and racism against Asian-Americans and Middle-Eastern Americans, etc.) The book of Esther provides examples of speaking truth to power like Queen Vashti, Mordecai, Esther (as her Persian name from the Hebrew name of Hadassah,) and the royal eunuch, Hathach, who served as Queen Esther’s loyal messenger. Even in this biblical book without direct mention of God and named after the replacement queen's Persian name, we are reminded that with God’s help, I can speak up when someone is treated badly. I can choose to live God’s ways instead of mistreating people and without equity. We can relate more like Jesus, the church of Acts with minority leadership, and Zacchaeus (confession and restitution).(Biblical Black pride, Bible translation, intentional relating with equity in diverse relationships even in church communities)?
My pastor launched a Diversity committee specifically celebrating "Openness, Transparency, and Accountability" which she said are not standard in all-white congregations. She argued that much church decision-making/leadership is closed and hidden, and thus not welcoming to "others." What practices/policies in our churches impede realizing our vision of a "Beloved Community"?
Classical Christian education and the role it plays in reinforcing the white washing of history as well as its connection to churches and how it affects the culture created in those spaces esp if that is not how you choose to educate. Or how it keeps minority voices and stories from being included.
The podcast has been active in my rotation for years. Tyler Burns was sort of getting into preacher mode and said “do not give them your dignity” it has stuck with me for years and helped me out of the closet. It would be nice to see how the gospel is liberative for all folx. Love your work and podcast, and I have noticed some movement to include women, but the podcast seems to focus on straight black men’s experiences. Would love to see series with womanist and queer folx. They are asking why should we give up are dignity?
The intersection of race, faith, and poverty. This is the space I work in and I would love to see you apply your intellect to this arena.
Have you done a podcast on your book How to Fight Racism?
Contact Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, MD and/ or her father Dr. Joseph Nnodim to discuss any of several topics including Dr. Opara’s work in anti-racist action; Dr. Nnodim’s recent book, Toward Understanding the Nigeria-Biafra war; primary care in Detroit; and why evangelical Christians should pay attention to colonial overtones in the use of “mission” and similar ideas.
Dr. Opara hosts a videoconference called AIMART and I learned a lot while participating a few months back in a chat about responses to the death of the Queen of England.
Dive into the history and nuance of Justice Takes Sides, especially compared to the idea of Blind Justice and Equal Justice. How is it even a serious idea that Lady Justice wears a blindfold? The Declaration of Independence talks about “native justice and magnanimity” but what did that really mean? The first sentence of the U.S. Constitution seeks to “establish Justice” but reality shows us that if you have enough money and know the right people it is possible to establish “unequal justice under the law.”