Tribal Talk: Black Theology, Hermeneutics, and African/American Ways of “Telling the Story”

The experiences of enslaved African Americans have been recorded in writings identified as slave narratives, also called liberation narratives. Although much has been written about slave culture and slave religion from sociological and historical perspectives, Tribal Talk is the first book to study slave narratives as a source for a contemporary, constructive black theology, while also paying close attention to their literary and rhetorical value. Will Coleman explores from a theological, historical, and literary perspective the oral traditions of African American culture, and how those oral traditions have made an impact on the composition of slave narratives. Specifically, Coleman examines the process by which religious beliefs were passed down from generation to generation. He explores the various interpretive strategies that aid in understanding both the theological and the literary nature of African American slave narratives. Ultimately, he links black theology with the language and the religious experiences of enslaved black people.