Black is the Spirit, Black is the Skin - pt. 1

Celebrating the African roots of Black Christianity

In the Black community it’s common to hear it said that “Christianity is the White man’s religion.” There’s good reason for that. In America, Christianity has been used since the founding of the nation (and well before!) to justify imperialism, racism, colonialism, genocide, misogyny, greed, war, and more. Many Black theologians have done the important work of differentiating between slaveholding Christianity, practiced and preached by European colonizers, and slave Christianity, practiced in secret “hush harbors” by enslaved Africans. Whereas slaveholding Christianity was oppressive and abusive, slave Christianity was a vibrant and defiant celebration of freedom. Whereas slaveholding Christianity bifurcated internal (so called “spiritual”) freedom from an external reality of liberation, slave Christianity integrated the two—daring to believe that Jesus wanted their souls as well as their bodies free. The branch of Black Christianity that grew from the brush arbor worship services of Black slaves is no doubt an essential part of Black history. But to start the story there undermines thousands of years of Black faith that preceded it.

Recently, I had the incredible privilege of taking a class at Fuller Theological Seminary with Dr. Vince Bantu. Mamher Bantu (as he prefers to be called) is an expert in African history and ancient Christianity. In his class, we were encouraged to look beyond slavery in the Americas to discover the African roots of Black Christianity and theology. What I discovered is that Black people have played a part in the Christian story since its earliest days. Christianity in ancient Africa was both foundational to what we now know as “orthodox” doctrine and also distinct from what is often presented in the West as “universal” Christian practice.

Many of the earliest patriarchs of the Christian church were Africans, including: Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen, Athanasius, Augustine, and Cyril. These are names that cannot be avoided by any seminary student or pastor. Yet, their geographical locations and cultural influences are easily overlooked, since so many scholars have either ignored their relevance or, worse, appropriated them as exclusively Grecco-Roman or European. If you want a quick and easy read on just how foundational Africa has been to the development of the Christian faith, check out Thomas Oden’s short book How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind. Of course, you can take a deeper dive by picking up Bantu’s A Multitude of All Peoples. And if you’re ballin on a budget and low on time, you can read my poem at the bottom of this post and follow this Substack through the month of February.

In the poem I highlight four real-world examples of Black Christians who each represent one of four distinctively Black cultural values. As much as we owe to African theologians for laying the foundations of “orthodox” Christian doctrine, there is also a cultural distinctiveness to African Christianity that is far from “universal.” In his class, Bantu identified four categories of African values which set apart Black Christianity from other expressions. I’ll get to those categories in just a second, but first let me point out that Bantu’s way of talking about Black Christianity is unique from many other Black theologians. Rather than situating Black identity exclusively in the context of slavery and oppression, Bantu understands it as rooted in African values that are timeless, eternal reflections of God’s image. Black/ African cultural values are certainly not the only earthly expression of God’s image, but they are one unique fragment of God’s multi-faceted person. When these values are ignored or devalued, then an aspect of God is lost on us. For that reason, it is essential that Christians of any race and ethnicity trace the thread of Black influence on their theology and traditions to uncover the beauty of God’s Blackness.

The four categories of African cultural values which Bantu sees in Black Christianity are: Rit’at, Seuartukonk, Ujamaa, and Boa me na me mmoa wo. All four are terms pulled from various African languages.

Rit’at is an Ethiopian word which means “right” or “orthodox.” It incorporates values like truth, holiness, and worship. In this series and in the poem, I use Athanasius as an example of African orthodoxy.

Seuartukonk  is a Nubian word which means “spirituality.” It incorporates values such as rhythm, call and response, and spiritual warfare. In this series I will use the ancient North African martyr, Perpetua, as an example of African spirituality.

Ujamaa is a swahili word which means “collective responsibility.” It incorporates values such as applicability, justice, and engagement. In this series I will use the biblical Queen of Sheba as an example of collective responsibility.

Boa me na me mmoa wo is a Twi (Ghanian) phrase which literally means “help me and I will help you.” This phrase expresses the truth that all things are reliant upon one another—interconnectedness. It incorporates the values of integration, ancestors, and creation. I will pull upon the rich, pre-colonial history of Christianity in Kongo as an example of interconnectedness.

My hope is that through this poem and this Substack series, we can celebrate a fuller Black Christian history that reaches beyond slavery. If you’re down for the ride, I invite you to join me as I pick apart the poem and delve into the incredible examples of Black faith that have been a part of the Christian story for thousands of years.

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Black is the Spirit, Black is the Skin

Black is a mystery as old as a burning bush

Black are the waters inviting the spirit in

Black is not the fire

Is not the wind

Is not even the whisper

But the burning, itself

The space between what Spirit is doing and what earth is allowing to be done

Black is not consumed

Rather,

Black is the branches hosting the flame

without yielding to the pain of being used

Black wants to be used

Lives to be consumed and yet not able to die

Black is the martyr who is still alive in the wounds of the Christ

To be black is to hold the light

Some say only white can do that

But white reflects

Never softens to let light in

Black lets light in

Absorbs the heat into its skin

To make something out of everything

To be the place where Creator makes

Order of chaos

Black is the color of orthodox

Does not reflect all things

But subjects all things to the truth instead

Holds the tension between heart and head

[Rit’at]

Black is Athanasius

Who did not prescribe to Arian lies but defied them

Restored the Father to Son from the ones who tried to divide them

Binding on earth as it is in heaven

The person and pages of elusive canons

Black is the reason and the rhyme for what we define as right

Doctrine

is more than intellectual ascension

Black is the battle of spiritual intervention

[Seuartukonk]

Black is Perpetua of North Africa

Who climbed into the cages of otherworldly coliseums

Became a gladiator so that she could fight our demons

And she won, despite losing her head

They thought they had killed her but her likeness is not dead

And it is instead alive in every daughter who defies

The principalities of our times

[Ujamaa]

Black provides like the queen of Sheba

Who tested God‘s wisdom and became a believer

Not only a receiver but participant of glory

She poured out her wealth to engage in God’s story

And the story has been written on the lines of Black pages

Passed down through generations of Ethiopian sages

Who made way for the glory of God to arrive

They applied His wisdom on the bedrock of their lives

And it survived the shaking of the nation’s foundations

To unearth the churches that had always been waiting

For the fruit of Solomon‘s roots hewn out of rock and dirt

[Bao me na me mmoa wo]

Black is the church

Established before hush harbors

That harbored instead on Kongolese shores

Without coercion or threat of war

Black is the ocean which carried the message of peace

Black is the union of doctrine from west to east

Black is the waters inviting the Spirit in

Black is the glory of Christ

The spirit

and the skin