Dr. Felder is Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Howard University. According to the introduction, this book grew out of articles and papers he originally wrote for various audiences and occasions and subsequently expanded or revised. He looks at the oft-ignored Black African people found in the Bible; he studies the themes of race, class, and family as found in the Bible, looking beyond the dominant culture's reading of the text and toward how the texts speak to people in the Black church today.

This is not a book for the general reader; it is designed for those with a background in historical-critical Biblical exegesis and at least a passing familiarity with Biblical languages. These are scholarly articles; as is often the case, they are not particularly engaging reading at times. Some of the chapters are much more interesting than others. Felder notes a number of interpretations and conclusions with which other scholars may take issue.

The final chapter relating to the Church and the nuclear threat is in some respects outdated; since the fall of the old Soviet Union, today's threats are different from those in the 1980's. (No longer do two "superpowers" hold all the nuclear arms.) ( )