Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter with the African American Great Migration

Jennifer T. Kaalund, Chris Keith

"Kaalund examines the constructed and contested Christian-Jewish identities in Hebrews and 1 Peter through the lens of the 'New Negro,' a diasporic identity similarly constructed and contested during the Great Migration in the early 20th century. Like the identity 'Christian,' the New Negro emerged in a context marked by instability, creativity, and the need for a sense of permanence in a hostile political environment. Upon examination, both identities also show complex internal diversity and debate that disrupts any simple articulation as purely resistant (or accommodating) to its hegemonic and oppressive environment. Kaalund's investigation into the construction of the New Negro highlights this multiplicity and contends that the rhetoric of place, race, and gender were integral to these processes of inventing a way of being in the world that was seemingly not reliant on one's...