Class 1: “How the Bible Can Be Used to Hurt People”
This class’s purpose is to explore how people have twisted scriptural passages into saying things very different from the Bible’s overall message. Class participants will read the best known racist misuse of the Bible, namely the “Curse of Ham.” By careful reading of the plain sense of this text, class members will readily see that this text has nothing to do with race and provides no support for enslaving or belittling African-descent peoples.
The remaining 5 class sessions will review how the Bible envisions the entire human family as the object of God’s love and salvation. Additionally, the class will see how frequently African-descent characters play decisive roles in the story of Israel and Jesus Christ.
Participants can read a thorough critique of the novel, Nellie Norton in the blog post: “Nellie Norton, Slavery, and the Weaponized Bible.”
Resources
Several graphics will be used to clarify points in the discussion. These may be downloaded and freely used by class members without permission or attribution.
A larger, downloadable version of the Genesis Genealogies Chart can be found by clicking here.
A larger, downloadable version of the Old Testament Chronology Chart can be found here.
A PDF version of the entire novel, Nellie Norton can be found here.
