Can I Get a Witness?: Reading Revelation Through African American Culture

by Blount, Brian K.

• ISBN13: 9780664228699
• ISBN10: 0664228690
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

In this accessible and provocative study, Brian Blount reads the book of Revelation through the lens of African American culture, drawing correspondences between Revelation's context and the long-standing suffering of African Americans. Applying the African American social, political, and religious experience as an interpretive cipher for the book's complicated imagery, he contends that Revelation is essentially a story of suffering and struggle amid oppressive assimilation. He examines the language of "martyr" and the image of the lamb, and shows that the thread of resistance to oppressive power that runs through John's hymns resonates with a parallel theme in the music of African America.

Author Biography

Brian K. Blount is Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
The Revelation of Culture	1	(36)
Can I Get a Witness? An Apocalyptic Call for Active Resistance	37	(32)
Wreaking Weakness: The Way of the Lamb	69	(22)
The Rap against Rome: The Spiritual-Blues Impulse and the Hymns of Revelation	91	(28)
Notes	119	(18)
Bibliography	137	(8)
Scripture and Ancient Source Index	145	(2)
Name and Subject Index	147