If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I? Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority

by Angela N. Parker

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2021

Overview

A challenge to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy that calls into question how Christians are taught more about the way of Whiteness than the way of Jesus.

Angela Parker wasn’t just trained to be a biblical scholar; she was trained to be a White male biblical scholar.

She is neither White nor male.

Dr. Parker’s experience of being taught to forsake her embodied identity in order to contort herself into the stifling construct of Whiteness is common among American Christians, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. This book calls the power structure behind this experience what it is: White supremacist authoritarianism.

Drawing from her perspective as a Womanist New Testament scholar, Dr. Parker describes how she learned to deconstruct one of White Christianity’s most pernicious lies: the conflation of biblical authority with the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility. As Dr. Parker shows, these doctrines are less about the text of the Bible itself and more about the arbiters of its interpretation—historically, White males in positions of power who have used Scripture to justify control over marginalized groups.

This oppressive use of the Bible has been suffocating. To learn to breathe again, Dr. Parker says, we must “let God breathe in us.” We must read the Bible as authoritative, but not authoritarian. We must become conscious of the particularity of our identities, as we also become conscious of the particular identities of the biblical authors from whom we draw inspiration. And we must trust and remember that as long as God still breathes, we can too.

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Contents

• Introduction: What Is Your Relationship to the Bible?
• Stifled Breathing: Trained to Be a White Male Biblical Scholar
• White Supremacist Authoritarianism Is Not God’s Breath
• Stop Gaslighting Me
• Moving from Stifled Breath to Full-Throated Faith
• Conclusion: Breathing Womanist Air

Praise for the Print Edition

I’ve been waiting for this book! If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I? brings a fresh perspective to the biblical text that makes it come alive with hope of liberation for all people. Dr. Angela Parker calls us past the superficial into a deep engagement with a contextual theology that is relevant and life-giving. We must rethink how to address the racial and social injustices taking place in the world today, and I am convinced that the way forward is womanist! So if you want to become brave enough to move from being a concerned bystander to an active participant—this book is for you! I highly recommend it.

—Brenda Salter McNeil

Dr. Parker understands the power of testimony to speak truth. This book marks a path away from death-dealing forms of scholarly formation in evangelical biblical studies and toward thriving life in a field and for a field. Parker’s powerful text adds greatly to a growing number of theologically rich antiracist and antisexist resources for addressing our current struggles. Now we have yet another weapon of righteousness.

—Willie James Jennings

While this is mostly a scholarly work, Parker includes anecdotes from her life experiences, including as the target of racism, to personalize and illustrate her points.

—Booklist

Product Details

• Title: If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I? Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority
• Author: Angela N. Parker
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 117
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Race relations › Biblical teaching; White supremacy movements › Religious aspects--Christianity; Authoritarianism › Religious aspects--Christianity; Black lives matter movement › Religious aspects--Christianity; Racism › Religious aspects--Christianity; Womanist theology; Bible. N.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Bible › Evidences, authority, etc; United States › Race relations
• ISBNs: 9780802879264, 0802879268, 9781467462532, 1467462535
• Resource ID: LLS:IFGDSTLBRES
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-11-01T14:45:56Z

About Angela N. Parker

Angela N. Parker is assistant professor of New Testament and Greek at Mercer University's McAfee School of Theology. In 2018, Dr. Parker received the Journal for Feminist Studies in Religion's ESF New Scholar Award for her article "One Womanist's View of Racial Reconciliation in Galatians." In her research, Dr. Parker merges Womanist thought and postcolonial theory while reading biblical texts with real lived experiences of actual bodies.