Ben Ammi Ben Israel: Black Theology, Theodicy and Judaism in the Thought of the African Hebrew Israelite Messiah

Description

This text introduces Ben Ammi, the leader and theologian of the African Hebrew Israelite community, as a systematic thinker and theologian. It examines his many books and speeches in order to provide a comprehensive introduction to his thought in the context of both African American and Jewish contemporaries and precursors. Divided into three thematic sections, History, Law, and Language, the text introduces Ben Ammi’s understanding of the nature of God, the responsibilities of the human, and the narrative of history. Ben Ammi was a deeply spiritual but also remarkably modern thinker who blended scientific thought into his evolving socio-theology, while seeking to remove religion from the realm of mythology. The book evaluates how Ben Ammi’s theology is one bound to concepts of humility and learning how to go with the grain of the natural world in order to find humanity’s true center as a part of nature. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1 By means of a beginning: History, race and truth 2 As in the days of Noah: Eschatology and apocalypticism 3 Black Messiah: Ben Ammi, Yeshua and Messianism 4 Pneumatic immanence: God, ontology and law 5 Divine Justice/Deserved Liberation: Suffering, agency and chosenness 6 The vital self: Body, soul, spirit, world 7 The power to define: Words, ideas, names and scripture 8 Revolutionary conservatism: Social theory, human life and gender Conclusion: Gnostic and kabbalistic reflections Notes Bibliography Index