The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity

Challenges and Strategies for Speaking about Ethnicity in the New Testament and New Testament Studies

“…27 Focusing on the North American context, Sylvester Johnson has compellingly argued that "to participate in divine identity [such as implied by the concept 'the people of God'] is to be haunted by the specter of illegitimate existence," a haunting he confronts by calling for a "Canaanite perspective" that values "the heathen" as "legitimate existents." 28 Haunting is an idiom that enables us to speak about holographic character of New Testament writings, as both Jewish and Christian: 29 Biblical texts haunt with their overflowing potential for being activated and materialized in different ways: Matthew as the quintessential Catholic gospel, yet also a Jewish gospel; the Fourth Gospel encrypts Sophia traditions under the sign of the Logos and is the gospel that has become the poster child for Christian claims to exclusivity-no one comes to the father but through me-but haunted by its status as the apparent favorite of the elusive so-called Gnostics; and of course there are Paul's writings, the radical Jew haunting the "second founder" of Christianity.…”

Multiple Discourses On Sexuality Implications For Translating Sexual Wellness Concept Into Action Strategies In A Kenyan Context

“…Ellingson and colleagues (2001) describe, using examples from USA, how "local sexual norms and practices shape congregational responses to sexuality issues-in some cases limiting the voice of a congregation while in others driving the congregation towards a more public and politicised position." Johnson (2004) describes how Europeans migrating to USA used Christianity to justfy slavery of the black people and similarly how those enslaved used Christianity to define themselves as people of God.…”