The spiritual is a combination of African musical traditions and European Christian hymns. They are meditations on the triumph of the metaphysical over the physical realities of slavery. They attempt to answer profound questions: What happens to an enslaved person when she dies? What does it mean if her life has been so denigrated on earth? What does freedom feel like if your only access to it is in your imagination? What miracles of God are needed to get free?
Today’s Top Ten List explores “Messages – Explicit in Implied – in Some African American Spirituals.” Scriptures referenced include Joshua 3; Jeremiah 8; Jeremiah 46:11; Isaiah 2:4; and Joshua 6.
The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) were historically sung by Israelites journeying to Jerusalem for religious festivals. Their themes range from divine protection to...
The letters to the seven churches in Revelation represent different challenges, spiritual conditions, and periods of church history, yet each message contains principles relevant...
The traditional Greek title of the letter ‘to Hebrews’ goes back at least to the late second century. Many modern writers think that the...
