African Americans' unique encounter with the Bible has shaped centuries of spirituality and the social engagement of a whole continent. In The Bible and African Americans, highly respected biblical scholar Vincent L. Wimbush outlines different ways African Americans read the Bible. The Bible has offered African Americans a language-world-a place that held stories where they could retreat and imagine themselves as part of something different than the strange land into which they had been thrust. Wimbush outlines six African American readings that correspond to different historical periods. He details the various responses to these historical situations and how they helped shape a collective self-understanding. In this important and concise book, Wimbush demonstrates how the Bible has empowered African Americans with agency and social power in ways that are still true today. When their voices were taken away, the Bible offered a way for them to speak again.