wfn.org | American Bible Society launches African American Jubilee Bible

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 30, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green·(615) 742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-31-71B{645}

By United Methodist News Service

The black tradition of finding hope through worship has led the American
Bible Society to launch the African American Jubilee Edition of the Bible.

The Jubilee Bible, available in the King James Version or the Contemporary
English Version, addresses the biblical understanding of jubilee while
providing comprehensive commentary of African-American history, culture and
faith formation. The offering also provides an authentic record of faith and
tradition, chronicles African culture and traces the presence of Africans in
the Bible. 

The jubilee theme is found in Leviticus 25 and the story of jubilee is
located in both the Old and New Testaments. The concept of jubilee
originated with God's command to the Israelites that every 50 years they
free their slaves and return mortgaged lands to the original owners.

"At the heart of jubilee is reconciliation and peace with justice. What a
wonderful message to carry us forward into the next century," said Eugene
Habecker, president of the American Bible Society, New York.

Set within the contexts of the African-American religious experience, the
Bible documents the period of the slavery, achievements of black church
activism and the black struggle around the world. It was designed for
pastors, church members and all individuals who want a better understanding
of the role and place of the Bible in the African-American experience.

The publication of the Jubilee Bible represents a significant milestone for
American Bible Society, Habecker said. "As we stand poised in the threshold
of a new millennium, we now have an educational Scripture resource to
proclaim the biblical understanding of jubilee."

For African Americans, the jubliee concept is found in their slave
ancestors' love for the Bible, which drew them to embrace certain beliefs
and kept the spirit of jubilee alive within the community. Less than 50
years after slavery officially ended, newly freed blacks created the
institutional framework for black churches, black colleges, the black press
and black businesses that continue today. The activity that laid a
foundation for the survival of these institutions is celebrated in the
Jubilee Bible. 

In addition to the Old and New Testaments, the Jubilee Bible is filled with
more than 300 pages of text and full-color illustrations to help readers
connect Black history, cultural images, moral visions, and perspectives to
the ancient Scriptures in such a way that they become authentic, relevant
and intimate, according to the American Bible Society.

Prominent African-American theologians and emerging biblical scholars
contributed to the Jubilee edition to help readers examine and study the
Bible through African-American historical and cultural understandings of the
Scriptures. Contributors include the Rev. Cain Hope Felder, a United
Methodist and professor at Howard University School of Divinity in
Washington; Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr. of the Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church in Louisiana and Mississippi; the Rev. Virgil A. Wood, pastor of Pond
Street Baptist Church in Providence, R.I.; and the Rev. Edwina Maria Wright,
assistant professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. In addition
to their reflections on the African-American experience from Africa to the
United States and the West Indies and South American, articles accompanying
the Bible explain the practice and celebration of the spirit of jubilee in
everyday life.

The leather-covered Jubilee Bible contains a wealth of supplemental
materials for devotional Bible study, Sunday school, group meetings,
cultural awareness and heritage celebrations, as well as multicultural
programs.

To purchase a copy in either flex or hardcover editions, call toll-free
(800) 32-BIBLE, order from the American Bible Society's Jubilee website at
www.jubileebible.org or from the ABS Bookstore at 1865 Broadway, New York,
N.Y. 10023.

For more information, contact Elaine Nole, communications officer for the
American Bible Society at (212) 408-1325 or e-mail her at
enole@americanbible.org.
# # #
Information for this article was adapted from an American Bible Society
press release.

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United Methodist News Service
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