Blacks in the Bible Workshop

Dark skinned Africans make several appearances in the Bible, and for many years, African Americans have seized upon these figures as a contribution to their pride. Yet all too often there has been relatively little attention paid either to the role of these figures in the lives and representation of African Americans, or as historical figures.

To this end, the African American Studies Program will present a workshop at Boston University in October 2016 to examine the historical role that dark-skinned people have played in the Bible, Apocrypha and extra-Biblical commentary, as well as in African American literary and historical writing. Probably the best known such character in the Bible is the anonymous Ethiopian eunuch who Philip baptizes in Acts, 8:26-40. But others can also be considered, such as Moses’ Ethiopian wife, who is also one of the well-known Africans in the Bible, and one might also want to consider the stir of interest produced when Henry Aubin published his book The Rescue of Jerusalem which put a spotlight on the significance of the Kushite Twenty-Fifth Dynasty of Egypt in the specifics of Biblical Judaism, even though the academy ignored the book. A similar stir of interest took place when Graham Hancock published his Sign and the Seal, seeking to establish historical connections between the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible, in the Kebra Negast, and in Arthurian Romances. These are just some of the characters the following speakers will present at this conference.

Speakers & Presentation Titles: Introduction and Welcome- John Thornton, Director, African American Studies Program at Boston Universty

"The Rescue of Jerusalem: A Nubiologist's Perspective" Jeremy Pope, Associate Professor of History at William and Mary College

"Why the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8) Was Not from Ethiopia" Edwin Yamauchi , Professor Emeritus of History at Miami University

"Biblical References in the Teachings of Beatriz Kimpa Vita, 1704-1706" John Thornton, Professor of History at Boston University

"Early Pan-African Biblical Projects: New Perspectives on Solomon, Sheba, and the Ethiopian Fourteenth-Century Text Kəbrä Nägäst" Wendy Belcher, Associate Professor of African Literature at Princeton University

"Moses, Mumbo Jumbo, and the 44 Secret Keys to Universal Power: The ‘First Tale of Setne Khaemwas’ and the African American Reception of Ancient Egypt, 1939-1988" Steven Vinson , Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Indiana University at Bloomington,

Closing remarks John Thornton, Director, African American Studies Program at Boston University Sponsored by the BU Center for the Humanities, the Jewish Cultural Endowment, History Department, and the African American Studies Program