The extra attention given to Black history every year is called Black History Month, which is observed in the US (also known as African-American History Month), Canada, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (Black Achievement Month). According to Wikipedia, it began as a way for remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.
[Browse resources in the Black History section of the Bible Gateway Store]
Written over a period of 1500 years by around 40 authors, the Bible reflects a diverse and multicultural view of the world as it presents its life-altering message conveyed through personal interactions with God. Geographical groups such as Ethiopians, Cushites, Egyptians, Hebrews, and other tribal terms describe people of color and communicate the fact that the Bible includes a strong black presence. Black history has always played a central role in God’s plan for humanity.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Africa Study Bible Launches with Global Events]
Today, Africa is a thriving hub of Christianity. The Africa Study Bible (Oasis International/Tyndale House, 2017) (@africastudybibl) is the first study Bible created to speak to African hearts and lives. Here are two examples of study notes in the book of Genesis from this Bible:
The Personhood of the African Woman
African women have often been suppressed and oppressed by cultures and traditions that exploit and abuse them. This treatment is seen in widowhood practices and in the customs of patriarchal societies. African women are treated this way because, according to the Yorubas of Western Nigeria, “Men have nine pair of ribs, and women seven. And so women are inferior.”
The biblical account of creation, however, reveals that God made the man and the woman different physically, but both were made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). He endowed the woman with qualities of personality similar to the man. She fulfilled God’s creation and joined man in the divine mandate to produce children, car for creation, and participate in God’s plan of redemption. Seeing women the way God created them will inspire the church to love, respect, and accept women as people who are equal in their standing before God.
Glorifying and Imitating God — Genesis 1:31
How many times have you praised God at the sight of a beautiful flower or a herd of wild animals living peacefully in nature? We see the Creator’s wisdom when a beautiful valley stretches out before us and we breathe the fresh air of the countryside. The ocean’s waves, both the gentle ones and the powerful ones, speak to us of God’s intelligence. We hear the loud cry of an animal in the night, the birdsong that wakes us in the morning, the flutter of wings flying quietly over our heads. All these remind us that we are not alone in this universe that God created just for us. Beautiful mountains, plains, and valleys invite us to meditate and to worship the Creator. Thinking about his own work, God “saw that it was very good!”
Because we were created in the image and the likeness of God, we can imitate the Creator in our creative words and actions. God entrusted us with the sacred task of caring for his creation. So let us respect our environment by preserving it in a state of cleanliness, beauty, and “goodness”—a place where we can experience his perfect harmony.
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