Soul Stories: African American Christian Education

by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly

Anne Streaty Wimberly proposes a method for educating the story-linking process. In Soul African American Christian Education she applies it specifically to the life experiences, history, and evolving liberation of African American Christians who are encouraged to see the connection between biblical stories, their own personal stories, and the stories of important African Americans in history. Christian education in African American contexts is strengthened by reclaiming the story-linking method that emerged naturally in the African American heritage.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian, Education

155 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

About the author

Anne E. Streaty Wimberly is Outreach Programs Executive Director, Youth HOPe-Builders Academy; Co-Director, Connecting with Hope Innovation Hub, Black Millennials Initiative; Doctor of Ministry Cohort Leader; Christian Education Professor Emerita; Interdenominational Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia.

Reviews

[Meggan Manlove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had read this 15 years ago when I started in parish ministry.

[David]

Overall, this is a helpful book. One of the best feature’s is Wimberly’s eight dimensions of liberation (my paraphrasing): 1) encountering your belovedness 2) material dignity 3) enfranchisement / equity as a form of decision making 4) equal regard 5) hope/possibility through education 6) interdependence 7) internal and external transformation through the Spirit and 8) mutuality or collective action for liberation.

I also appreciate the innovation of linking stories typically told in different contexts together: the stories of our lives / life together, Biblical accounts, and stories of faith from heritage contexts. I think this last one is critical and often ignored.

I also deeply value her hermeneutic of action, and the way she discusses vocation as purpose-driven, values-integrated life. You can see how her life’s work of empowering Black youth is expressed through this book, which is truly filled with amazingly practical examples and materials.

I do wish she had given more attention to the facilitation question—there are moments, contexts, lessons even that she introduces that are quite intense. I’m not sure I (as a reader) felt equipped with enough practice or demonstration of how to introduce those conversations responsibly from the short chapter on the end. Furthermore, I feel a need to introduce a note of caution regarding using Biblical accounts in this way. For one, some of the passages she references aren’t stories at all, but portions of letters. Secondly, reading Scripture as a mirror can obfuscate some of the instruction the text is offering us through the lens of a “cautionary tale” rather than a hero to emulate. I worry about the linking ourselves too quickly to the text without the necessary work of uncovering what is behind and beneath the text. It sounds like Wimberly acknowledges this in her account that facilitators should pick texts very carefully and with great intention. And, importantly, these texts have been used for generations as sources of comfort, solidarity, solace, and liberation for oppressed communities. But at some point we should be asking the question, to what degree is the text as liberatory as we may want to believe?

I do think it’s a framework to come back to, and an invitation to draw together the stories of our lives and our ancestors, both in faith and by kin, in powerful ways.

[Aldon Hynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a wonder seminary class on Christian Education. It is wonderful. While the title focuses on African American Christian Education, the book is something people from any race and faith tradition should read and think about how it can fit with their education.

[Nathan Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, practical book on using narrative to conduct Christian Education! Though all of the examples and techniques will not apply in all settings, all of us working in education in church related fields would do well to read this original work and seek to adapt her ideas to this present generation who responds more to story than doctrine.