This chapter is on three critical areas of Christian discipleship that will need to be addressed in a newly established Black Baptist church. It will deal with three pairs of topics. First, in discussing Biblical literacy with an Afrocentric perspective, it will cover issues of a basic understanding of the Bible and of Afrocentric presences in the Bible. Second, in dealing with Christian stewardship in the Black church, it will cover a basic understanding of Christian stewardship, and especially the stewardship of money. Third, in discussing what would be a normative Christian response to social activism, it will look at the Black churchÆs response in the past, in the present, and in the future.
Biblical Literacy with an Afrocentric Perspective
Solid teaching in Bible study is essential for the spiritual health of any Black church. This teaching must be provided by persons with adequate training in both Bible studies and teaching methods. The Bible is in fact not easy to understand in many places and many ways, and it is an insult to the intelligence of adults to pretend otherwise. However, in teaching the Bible one must steer between the Scylla and Charybdis of inappropriate literalism and the kind of skepticism that damages peopleÆs faith unnecessarily.
Many Christians believe, of course, in taking the Bible quite literally, but this approach must always be tempered with common sense. When Jesus said, ôI am the door,ö he did not mean literally that he is made of wood and that those who knock on him will get splinters--and yet sometimes one hears people offering interpretations of passages that are almost this simplistic. A student of the Bible is responsible for knowing that, although inspired by God, it is a human document. After all, the Gospels were not written by Jesus himself, but by his followers, or their followers, and so on. We know that St. Paul, one of the greatest writers in the New Testament, neve...