Nyasha Junior - Reimagining Hagar: Blackness and the Bible

Episode: Nyasha Junior is back on the show to discuss her new book Reimagining Hagar: Blackness and the Bible. Matt Lynch hosts a discussion on race, ethnicity, and color in biblical interpretation. Taking the character of Hagar, Junior traces a fascinating and at times disturbing history of biblical interpretation on these themes, and helps readers (and listeners) untangle what is often confused. We also cover growing up with implicit segregation in Florida, the history of mosquitoes, book and music recommendations (like Stony the Road), and much more!

Guest: Nyasha Junior has a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and is Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University, Philadelphia.  She will be visiting faculty at Harvard University in the 2020-2021 academic year. She is the author of Womanist Biblical Interpretation (WJK Press) and Reimagining Hagar: Blackness and Bible (OUP), discussed in this episode.  She has a new book coming out this year, co-authored with Jeremy Schipper, called Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon (OUP). Her public facing scholarship has been featured in The Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, Religion and Politics, and other media outlets. To learn more about Nyasha, check out her website.  

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