The Blessing of Ham: Genesis 9:1 in Early African American Biblical Scholarship
Much of the recent scholarship on Noah’s curse (Genesis 9:20–27) has focused on how the myth of Ham has factored into debates over slavery and other anti-Black biblical interpretations. Yet Sylvester A. Johnson argues convincingly that in the late nineteenth century, the “myth of Ham” was used prima...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Biblical interpretation
Year: 2022, Volume: 30, Issue: 4, Pages: 399-414 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ham Biblical character
/ Noah
/ Curse
/ Exegesis
/ Pennington, James W. C. 1808-1870
/ Crummell, Alexander 1819-1898
/ Tanner, Benjamin T. 1835-1923
/ Williams, George Washington 1849-1891
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| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Noah’s curse
B Ham B African American biblical interpretation B Alexander Crummell B James W. C. Pennington B George Washington Williams B Benjamin Tucker Tanner |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Much of the recent scholarship on Noah’s curse (Genesis 9:20–27) has focused on how the myth of Ham has factored into debates over slavery and other anti-Black biblical interpretations. Yet Sylvester A. Johnson argues convincingly that in the late nineteenth century, the “myth of Ham” was used primarily to explain racial origins rather than to justify or condemn slavery. To provide nuance to Johnson’s point, this article argues that some influential nineteenth-century African American scholars whom Johnson discusses interpreted the story of racial origins in the myth of Ham as an outgrowth of a divine blessing that Ham shared with his brothers in Genesis 9:1–19. This blessing, they argued, was unrelated to Noah’s curse of Canaan in Genesis 9:20–27. This article focuses on the exegetical arguments made by James W. C. Pennington, Alexander Crummell, Benjamin Tucker Tanner, and George Washington Williams. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-2020004 |