Enduring Truth

Restoring Sound Theology and Relevance to African American Preaching

Aaron E. Lavender

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781433692048
• eBook ISBN: 9781433692031
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Enduring Truth argues that faithfulness to Scripture is the solution to a “crisis” among African American preaching. Though misinterpreting God’s Word is not restricted to one race or culture, author Aaron Lavender identifies three factors that have precipitated the decline of black preaching specifically: racial segregation, black liberation theology, and prosperity theology. The book’s first chapter recounts the history of the crisis, noting how discrimination in theological education led black ministers to liberal colleges and seminaries that prophetically confronted Jim Crow but taught the social gospel and other forms of theological error. Such schools ultimately were harmful to the spiritual health of black churches.
 
Subsequent chapters discuss the role of biblical exegesis in preaching, develop a theology of preaching, and suggest preaching methods for the postmodern world. Every biblical text has one meaning, according to Lavender. The preacher’s job is to determine and communicate that meaning, then show its relevance in the cultural context of his hearers. Proof-texting and relativism, Lavender writes, are two great enemies of biblical preaching.
 
While focused on the African American context, this volume addresses topics relevant to all preachers. Enduring Truth is suited both for ministry practitioners and preaching courses. It will help readers elevate the Word of God over the worldly allures of any ministry setting.

1

The Crisis

Erosion of Biblical Preaching in African American Pulpits

Then the Lord said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart . . . I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. (Jer 14:14; 23:21)

Preaching has always been central to black church life, with the preacher regarded as a natural leader in the black community.4 As Olin P. Moyd observes:

The [black] preachers have been the central figures in their churches. Preaching has been the primary element of their worship. And practical theology has been the content and essence in their preaching.5

Moyd adds, “Historic African-American preaching was both interpretation and proclamation.”6 Even during slavery, black people found refuge and solace in the preaching they heard each Lord’s Day. Preaching provided emotional inspiration and was, in a sense, a survival mechanism.7 While they awaited their emancipation, preaching helped slaves endure the hardships and unjust treatment imposed by their owners. This is why the black preacher was so essential to African American Christians. Lewis V. Baldwin echoes these sentiments: “The single most important figure in the black Christian experience is the black preacher.”8

Preaching continues to be a mainstay in African American churches. This should come as no surprise to any Bible student since preaching is the method God chose to convey his Word and will to lost humanity. Paul said regarding God’s use of preaching that “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:21). It is this foolishness of preaching that African Americans need.

However, preaching in some African American pulpits has, over time, evolved and taken a less than conservative approach in its dealing with textual accuracy and relevance. This is a crisis which necessitates a change. Dale Andrews, in Practical Theology for Black Churches says, “Through the generations of black preaching, African American folk religion has developed a ‘black hermeneutic’ for the interpretation and application of the Bible.”9 This “black hermeneutic” has wreaked havoc on African American churches because it manipulates the Bible’s intended meaning. The church in America today faces a crisis like no other time in its history. There is therefore a need for biblical accuracy and relevance to be restored to all pulpits, especially African American ones. As we will see, at least three factors have precipitated the decline of biblical preaching among black churches: segregation, black liberation theology, and prosperity theology.

Segregation and Theological Training

From the beginning of our nation’s history, African Americans have endured racism and racial segregation. Racial segregation is born out of an attitude of superiority. A race that considers itself dominant claims the legal and moral right to discriminate against a race it considers inferior. As racial segregation continued its evolution in America, the dominant white race felt duty-bound to discriminate against black people.

Behind racial segregation and discrimination was the idea that black people were not fully part of the human race.10 This idea was especially popular during the days of slavery when blacks inherited at birth a status that excluded them from many privileges normally associated with being human.11 Generally, slaves were prohibited from learning to read or write for fear they might become intelligent enough to stand up against their masters. A body of laws known as the Slave Codes12 was enacted to keep slaves in a position of subservience. These laws covered every aspect of life for slaves and inhibited especially their social and intellectual development.

The Slave Codes also affected the religious life of slaves. They were permitted to hear the Bible preached each Lord’s Day but only under the strict guardianship of slave owners. They were allowed to attend their owners’ churches but had to sit in segregated sections, oftentimes in the upper balconies. Slave owners often encouraged their slaves to attend preaching services because it was thought such religious experiences would make them more docile and cooperative. To nurture cooperation, white preachers would admonish the slaves to obey their masters. Scripture passages like Ephesians 6:513 were distorted in an attempt to teach slaves that disobedience to their owners was equivalent to disobeying God himself and would result in severe chastisement.

On occasion slaves were permitted to conduct their own separate worship services held in their slave quarters. The slaves worshiped with singing, praying, and preaching. Since the majority of black preachers could not read or write, their knowledge of the Bible and theology was restricted. Consequently, most of what they preached was based on memory of what they heard from white preachers. They would sometimes even imitate the words and actions of white preachers. Pastor and educator William Banks notes, “The Blacks copied what they saw and heard. Basically, the religion of the plantation Black was a faithful copy of the White man’s religion.”14 The messages from these black preachers were emotional, energetic, and connected with the daily struggles, frustrations, and burdens carried by slaves.

The worship experience of slaves was always scrutinized by the slave owners. The black preacher had to be extremely careful not to anger the slave master by the subject matter he preached. As James Harris states,

During much of slavery, especially during the nineteenth century, black preachers were forbidden by law and custom to preach the gospel, presumably because of the increase in rebellion and insurrections of religious radicals.15

Charles Hamilton adds:

Where the black preacher was permitted to serve the slaves, he was expected by the slaveholders to pacify the slaves and to reconcile them to their lowly lot here on earth. Those who performed that function well, were rewarded by the whites for it.16

With the abolition of slavery came a new approach to racism: Jim Crow laws.17 To protect white rights and interests, laws were passed that encouraged white dominance and kept whites separated from blacks. This legalized racial discrimination in America. The result was the continued repression of black people in a society that measured superiority and inferiority solely on the basis of pigmentation.

In childhood, African Americans learned that the differences between themselves and white people amounted to more than skin color. As William Chafe, Raymond Gavins, and Robert Korstad note:

Jim Crow meant confronting bitter truths about human nature. . . . Among the most poignant of these realities emerged when African-American children came to understand that blacks and whites were different in the eyes of society. Walking to school, going to the store, playing on rural farms and city sidewalks, black children confronted racial differences in the taunts of white children, in the degrading treatment of black adults, and in their own observations of who was better off than whom. Under such circumstances you just automatically grew up inferior and you had the feeling that white people were better than you.18

Discrimination against black people extended to social interactions, housing, employment, and education. Nowhere was the oppression more apparent than in the realm of religious education. Both liberal and conservative institutions resisted integrated classrooms, but some schools closed their doors to blacks altogether. Even after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, schools like Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, and Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, enforced admission restrictions based on race. The idea that whites were superior to blacks was the accepted norm and white supremacy triumphed in America.

Problems Created by Racial Segregation

Racial segregation led to at least four major problems: degradation of black communities, bitterness toward America, a propensity to embrace the social gospel, and devaluation of human life.

Effect on Black Communities

The first problem created by racial segregation was the degradation of black communities. Due to their denial of the access and opportunity afforded most white Americans, African Americans were relegated to poverty, illiteracy, and a “ghetto” mind-set where hopelessness and despair prevailed. African Americans had to endure, at times, horrendous living conditions just to survive. In the majority of predominantly African American neighborhoods, crime, drug trafficking, gang violence, unemployment, and deplorable living conditions prevailed. Many of these neighborhoods had little if any public transportation and few grocery stores or hospitals. It is a sad reality but fifty years after the civil rights race riots in Watts, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, many urban neighborhoods are still in disarray and people still ...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• 1. The Crisis: Erosion of Biblical Preaching in African American Pulpits
• 2. The Importance of Biblical Exegesis for Textual Accuracy and Relevance in Biblical Preaching
• 3. A Theology of Preaching
• 4. Relevance in Biblical Preaching
• Conclusion
• Bibliography