A displaced people. A life in bondage. Miraculous freedom.
For over a century, Black Americans have identified with the biblical story of the Exodus-when God rescued his people from slavery and led them to the land flowing with milk and honey.
But fifty years have passed since Jim Crow laws were repealed, and the promised land has never materialized-Black lives matter as little today as they did before the civil rights movement. Why would God allow his people to have such a degrading experience?
In Black Power, Fr. Jabriel S. Ballentine offers a new perspective that not only answers this question but also shifts the entire conversation away from "why" and toward redemption and reconciliation: it's the story of Joseph-not the Exodus-that truly encompasses the Black experience.
Ballentine sets the groundwork for this new perspective by first explaining the traditional liberation narrative of the Exodus story. He goes on to redefine what liberation really is, applying that definition to Joseph's story and to Black Americans' stories today.
It is only through this perspective change and the reconciliation it informs, says Ballentine, that we can redeem history and change the future of America.
About the Author: Fr. Jabriel S. Ballentine is a personal pastor, public theologian, and Episcopalian priest. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a master's degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary. He serves as an executive council member for the Episcopal Church and as a liaison to the church's Commission on Antiracism.
Ballentine currently resides in the greater Orlando, Florida, area. When he is not serving as a priest, Ballentine attends the Church of the Messiah in Winter Haven. He enjoys traveling and going to the beach with his wife and two children.
