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

by Brian K. Blount (Editor)

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.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Race, Religion, New Testament, Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2005

About the author

Brian K. Blount is president and professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA, and Charlotte, NC. He was called to this position in 2007, after serving for 15 years as the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary.
An M.Div. graduate of Princeton Seminary in 1981, he obtained his B.A. from the College of William and Mary in 1978. After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went on to become the pastor of the Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia from 1982-1988. William and Mary’s first African-American to receive membership in the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, he received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Emory University in 1992. He returned to teach at Princeton Seminary the same year.
Professor Blount’s primary work has been in the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation and in the area of cultural studies and hermeneutics. He is the author of six books.
His most recent work, Invasion of the Dead: Preaching Resurrection (WJK 2014), is based on his 2011 Yale Beecher Lectures. In 2010, his Revelation commentary was voted the 2009 top reference work by the Academy of Parish Clergy. He has also edited a volume of essays on worship with Leonora Tubbs Tisdale entitled Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship (WJK, 2000). He is also the coauthor of a book with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann and theologian William C. Placher entitled Struggling With Scripture (WJK, 2001). He has also co-authored the book Preaching The Gospel of Mark in Two Voices (WJK, 2002) with Gary W. Charles, the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA. He is an editor of The Discipleship Study Bible, also by Westminster John Knox (2008). As a part of his work for the Bible, he has also written the introduction and notes for Mark and Matthew. He is an associate editor of the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for Abingdon Press. He is also the general editor for True To Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary by Fortress Press.
The author of numerous articles, he also preaches and directs adult education classes in local congregations. He is married, and he and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Joshua and Kaylin.
http://www.upsem.edu/academics/facult...

Reviews

[Luke Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is still wonderful, and that final chapter will always get me. A timely re-read in today’s political climate.

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2021 REVIEW: In his book "Can I Get a Witness?", Brian K. Blount reads the Book of Revelation through the lens of African-American culture and specifically through the lens of the Black Church. The book is short, and is by no means exhaustive; rather, it show how reading the biblical text(s) through a particular lens can lead to unique interpretations, applications, and insights that others who look at the same text(s) from a different lens would never have seen.

What Blount has done is beautiful and necessary. I read this book quickly, and I will definitely come back to it again. Each chapter is filled with fresh exegetical insights and surprising 21-century applications of the Apocalypse. For Blount, the entirety of Revelation is a call to nonviolent active resistance via witnessing openly and publicly that Jesus is King. The resistance of the Asian Christians in Revelation may have been nonviolent, but in no way is the resistance presented as ineffective. Rather, via such nonviolent active resistance, Satan is cast down to earth and the Beast (Rome) is conquered (Rev 12). In all of this, Blount sees many parallels with the experience of African Americans and that of the Black Church.

Finally, the last chapter, entitled "The Rap against Rome," brought this book to an incredible climax. By comparing the Revelation hymns, scattered throughout the book, to not only spirituals and gospel music, but to the rebellious and resistant music of rap/hip-hop, Blount has opened up my eyes to a new way of viewing John: "John the hymnist was John the rapper!" Anyone with their eyes to Scripture and their ears to Kendrick and Tupac will recognize and appreciate the connections Blount draws in this closing chapter.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend suggested I read this as part of my studies and preparation for teaching a series on Revelation. I am so glad to have read Brian Blount's book, which brings a relevant and provocative perspective through African American culture.
Lots of points highlighted, and I am sure much will be quoted or referenced.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read that approaches Revelation from an Adrican American perspective.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to keep this one short and simple. I have never really "understood" Revelations, but this is a great place to start. The global perspectives described at the beginning of the book, followed by a Black American Church focus, is an amazing way to introduce oneself to the contextualization, hope, and major themes found throughout the book. I also enjoyed the last chapter when it talks about blues, rap, and the themes of struggle and confrontation. Overall, a really concise and enjoyable book. The only reason I took off a star was that sometimes I found it troubling to follow the direction the author was headed. Yet, in the end, the author landed exactly where they should have.

[Taylor Lunsford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blount gives a specialized reading of Revelation that enables an understanding of the largely misunderstood, mysterious book. By seeking to understand Revelation through African American experience, one begins to see John and the early church's world and call to witness in a different way, opening up the conversation for implementation in today's world. He emphasizes that this is just one way of interpretation and calls, in general, for a cultural studies approach to the Bible.

[Audra Spiven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fairly quick and easy read (for a theological read, that is). It pairs well with Raquel St. Clair's "Call & Consequence" about the Gospel of Mark, although it is much older than St. Clair's book. It is a good way to ground a reading of Revelation, especially in the ways that we remind ourselves that Rome and Babylon were not the first or the last manifestations of beastly powers in this world.

[Graydon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blount’s cultural studies interpretation of Revelation is fascinating and insightful. It notes brilliant connections between John’s vision and the Black Church, and he leaves the reader envisioned for active, resistant witness for Jesus in the face of “Rome.”

[Eric Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Correcting my earlier review. I still think it is dangerously close to eisegetical work, but there is still value in reading the text. It was pointed out to me that everybody brings some eisegesis to the table when reading scripture, but I still found enough errors in the work to be troubling.

[Van Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

[Edward Bellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great companion to his Revelation commentary. His work with the 9 hymns in Revelation and comparison to rap was thought-provoking.

[Kristina Mosley]

Read this book with a group of friends. This book dives into suffering in the church vs. liberation. I walked away from reading this feeling, that there is more to what suffering has taught humanity. And so grateful for the Grace of God.

[Mills College Library]

228.06 B6574 2005

[Melissa Flo-bix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I approach both my academic and my pedagogical approach to the Bible.