Reading "Reading While Black" While White [1 of 3]

A Book Review in Three Parts

This Book Is Not for Me

Literally. Esau McCaulley states unambiguously that he is writing for Black Christians. To the publisher's relief, I'm sure, a much wider audience should nonetheless read Reading While Black .

The intended audience's Blackness is not a trivial matter. How Blackness shapes a reader's interpretation is the book's central concern. Since this is a book about reading the Bible, the Blackness of Bible readers is McCaulley's primary focus, but the question extends to his audience: how does social location shape his reader's perceptions? More to the point, I am inevitably reading Reading While Black while White. How this fact shapes my review of his work must, in turn, be central.

Then again, I read this book like any other: critically. Yet, there is an elephant in the room, namely, the audacity of a White reader critiquing a Black author advocating for Blackness in 2024. I'm venturing more than mere appreciation because