There has been growing interest in recent years in the presence and image of blacks and blackness in classical antiquity. However this pioneering and much needed work is the first to survey and theorise the black as seen by early Christian writers.

How were early Christians influenced by contemporary assumptions about ethnic and colour differences? Why were early Christian writers so attracted to the subject of Blacks, Egyptians, and Ethiopians? Looking at the neglected issue of race brings valuable new perspectives to the study of the ancient world; now Gay Byron's exciting work is the first to survey and theorise Blacks, Egyptians and Ethiopians in Christian antiquity. By combining innovative theory and methodology with a detailed survey of early Christian writings, Byron shows how perceptions about ethnic and color differences influenced the discursive strategies of ancient Christian authors. She demonstrates convincingly that, in spite of the contention that Christianity was to extend to all peoples, certain groups of Christians were marginalized and rendered invisible and silent. Original and pioneering, this book will inspire discussion at every level, encouraging a broader and more sophisticated understanding of early Christianity for scholars and students alike.

In her book Barbarian or Greek?: The Charge of Barbarism and Early Christian Apologetics, Stamenka Antonova examines different aspects of the charge of barbarism in the Greek and Latin Christian apologetic texts (2-4th centuries) and the various responses to it by the early Christians. The author demonstrates that the charge of barbarism encompasses a broad range of meanings, such as low social class, inadequate education, immorality, criminal activity, political treason, as well as foreign ethnicity and language. In addition to contextualizing the charge of barbarism in ancient rhetorical practices, the author also applies literary criticism and post-colonial theory to shed light on the concept of the barbarian as an ideological-rhetorical tool for othering, marginalization and persecution in the Roman Empire.

This volume is an engaging and provocative introduction to Feminist Biblical Studies. The authors draw upon their own social, cultural and religious backgrounds and experiences in reading the New Testament as feminists in the context of globalization. They provide intentional interpretations of biblical texts that cast gender, race, class and power relationships as issues inherent in both the content and context of scripture and its interpretation. The essays call into question feminist social engagement that does not extend beyond academic halls, churches and Christians, suggesting directions for future research and teaching in Feminist Biblical Studies.

2011 Winner of the Book Awards Contest in the Discipline of Theology Presented by Alpha Sigma Nu The apostle Paul wrote that "All of you are one in Christ Jesus." Given Paul’s vision of God’s kingdom defined by the breakdown of all distinctions and relationships of domination—no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female—how do we make sense of ethnic particularity within the church’s theological formulations? Racism and God-Talk explores the biblical and religious dimensions of North American racism while highlighting examples of resistance within the Christian religious tradition. Social historians have seldom analyzed the problematic of race from a primarily theological perspective. This volume undertakes a critical examination of explicitly theological and confessional perspectives for understanding and transforming North American racism. Rosario Rodriguez offers insights from Latino/a theology for broader scholarly and social discussions concerning racism, borders, and immigration. The first to analyze race and racism from a Latino/a theological perspective, the volume makes use of a broadened conceptualization of "mestizaje," or mutual cultural exchange, to challenge the church to recognize the effects of racial and ethnic particularity in all theological construction.

Berkowitz shows that interpretation of Leviticus 18:3 provides an essential backdrop for today's conversations about Jewish assimilation and minority identity.

Envisioning Others offers a multidisciplinary view of the relationship between race and visual culture in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, from the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal to colonial Peru and Colombia, post-Independence Mexico, and the pre-Emancipation United States. Contributed by specialists in Latin American and Iberian art history, literature, history, and cultural studies, its ten chapters take a transnational view of what ‘race’ meant, and how visual culture supported and shaped this meaning, within the Ibero-American sphere from the late Middle Ages to the modern era. Case studies and regionally-focused essays are balanced by historiographical and theoretical offerings for a fresh perspective that challenges the reader to discern broad intersections of race, color, and the visual throughout the Iberian world. Contributors are Beatriz Balanta, Charlene Villaseñor Black, Larissa Brewer-García, Ananda Cohen Suarez, Elisa Foster, Grace Harpster, Ilona Katzew, Matilde Mateo, Mey-Yen Moriuchi, and Erin Kathleen Rowe.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Religion, ethnicity and race are facets of human identity that have become increasingly contested in the study of the Bible - largely due to the modern discipline of biblical studies having developed in the context of Western Europe, concurrent with the emergence of various racial and imperial ideologies. The essays in this volume address Western domination by focusing on historical facets of ethnicity and race in antiquity, the identities of Jews and Christians, and the critique of scholarly ideologies and racial assumptions which have shaped this branch of study. The contributors critique various Western European and North American contexts, and bring fresh perspectives from other global contexts, providing insights into how biblical studies can escape its enmeshment in often racist notions of ethnicity, race, empire, nationhood and religion. Covering issues ranging from translation and racial stereotyping to analysing the significance of race in Genesis and the problems of an imperialist perspective, this volume is vital not only for biblical scholars but those invested in Christian, Jewish and Muslim identity.

Contents Announcement of the 2016 Symposium Abbreviations Introduction Klyne Snodgrass North Park Theological Seminary Faculty Statement on Racism "Racial Realism" in Biblical Interpretation and Theological Anthropology: A Systematic-Theological Evaluation of Recent Accounts Elizabeth Y. Sung Response to Sung Valerie Landfair Reimagining Koinonia: Confronting the Legacy and Logic of Racism by Reinterpreting Paul's Letter to Philemon Lewis Brogdon Response to Brogdon Al Tizon The Bible's Outrage at Blumenbach's Babel: An Antiracist Hermeneutic for White Followers of Jesus Kyle J. A. Small Enemies, Romans, Pigs, and Dogs: Loving the Other in the Gospel of Matthew Love L. Sechrest Response to Sechrest Rebecca Gonzalez The Lynching of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah: Death at the Hands of Persons Unknown Bo H. Lim Response to Lim Evelmyn Ivens What's Missing? Theological Musings on a Hermeneutics of Absence Nestor Medina Response to Medina Bruce L. Fields "Lost in Translation: Ethnic Conflict in English Bibles"--The Gospels, "Race," and the Common English Bible: An Introductory and Exploratory Conversation Emerson B. Powery Response to Powery Michael O. Emerson An Indigenous Reinterpretation of Repentance Raymond Aldred Response to Aldred Mark Tao Truth Be Told: A Necessary Funeral Dirge in the Middle of Our Conversation Soong-Chan Rah Annotated Bibliography on Race and Racism Presenters and Respondents Ex Auditu--Volumes Available

The first major book to examine ancient Christian literature on hell through the lenses of gender and disability studies Throughout the Christian tradition, descriptions of hell’s fiery torments have shaped contemporary notions of the afterlife, divine justice, and physical suffering. But rarely do we consider the roots of such conceptions, which originate in a group of understudied ancient texts: the early Christian apocalypses. In this pioneering study, Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature—largely those of women, enslaved persons, and individuals with disabilities—are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity.