Hagar's Lust In Power Roles

“I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ‘devil’”.

oppressors because even the historic Black church has been controlled by White theology and the

For almost eight decades, enslaved African-Americans living in the Antebellum South, achieved their freedom in various ways—one being religion—before the demise of the institution of slavery. It was “freedom, rather than slavery, [that] proved the greatest force for conversion among African Americans in the South” (94). Starting with the Great Awakening and continuing long after the abolition of slavery, after decades of debate, scholars conceptualized the importance of religion for enslaved African-Americans as a means of escaping the brutalities of daily life. Overall, Christianity helped enslaved African American resist the degradation

“It should not be possible to treat a slave with Christian fairness and instruct him in the Christian faith as a just substitute for his pagan practices, without mollifying the relationship between master and slave. It has to be. Otherwise Christianity would not be able to spread. Otherwise the African would be deemed our equal simply because he shared out faith in one God and the Afterlife. We both know of the above to be false because of the evidence of how Africans live in their Primitive Land.” (p.111)

Although the United States was built on the idea of freedom for all, it’s clear, looking back at the treatment of certain groups of people, that “all” didn’t really include everyone. This is evident from the moment we landed in the New World and ravaged Native American’s and took their land, forcing them from their homes. And, even more so, in the unimaginable treatment of enslaved men, women, and children alike. As Frederick Douglass pointed out in the narrative of his life as a slave: Slavery, though often justified in the name of Christianity, was far from a Christian institution. Moreover, the presence of slavery proved that most of the United States was more so an immoral and unjust nation than anything else.

Christianity was new to most slaves who had been abducted from their native country and taken to the Americas. Some were hesitant to abandon their old traditions for the Christ their white captors taught of, but after several generations of slavery, most black slaves had succumbed to relentless preaching. However, the Christianity that took hold within the slave community was often interpreted differently, conveying different messages to pockets of slave population. The use of Christianity in slavery was a double edged sword, creating not only a tool for control, but a weapon of discontent in slave communities. Examining the works of Richard Allen and the stories of Nat Turner, create a narrative of how Christianity was applied differently to slaves.

They believed that it contained toxic texts in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well. It is said that the text in the Old Testament censured Africans and their descendants to slavery because they were Africans. In the New Testaments it is said that they censured Africans and their descendants to slavery because they were slaves. The first commandment of Christianity preached to the slaves was obedience. In the New Testament the verse “Slaves be obedient to your masters” appear multiple times. This verse served the slave system. No one wanted a slave who was not obedient. Any slave that was considered to be obedient knew and understood that their master was not to get the same treatment they got. They knew they were to not touch or hit their master in any type of way and to obey them. African Americans believed the Bible had the power to curse and the power to cure. African Americans counter interpreted the passages in the Bible. They did this as evidence of the biblical curses. They eventually accepted the Bible as a poison book and as a healing book. The events in this chapter are important in the study of the Bible because it helped African Americans realize that the Bible is not only a poison book but a good book that can cure and help heal their

We are convinced that these so called Christians people are corrupt with cruelty in their hearts, to be as sinful as can be. Our people came to this New World not with their own consent, to find an unmolested enjoyment of blessings. But they came with broken hearts, from their beloved native land, and were doomed to unrequited toil and deep degradation. The evil of their bondage succeed them passed down through generations inherited their chains, millions have come and to this evilness and at the end returned back to the spirit world, cursed and ruined by American slavery. As years pass, the voice of freedom cried out, “Emancipate your slaves,” humanity supplicated with tears for the deliverance of the children of Africa.

Although Hagar flaunts her pregnancy with Abraham in the face of Sarah who is barren, Sarah is ultimately responsible for generating trouble in Abraham’s household. Through Sarah’s decision to give Hagar to Abraham, Sarah’s jealousy and anger towards Hagar’s reaction to conception, and also Sarah’s harsh treatment of Hagar, we are able to understand why Sarah is truly the one accountable for the negative circumstances throughout her relationship with Hagar.

“Explanations for the behavior of ingroup members typically are benign-crediting internal qualities for positive behaviors and blaming external circumstances for negative behaviors; the converse holds for outgroup members, resulting in less benign perceptions” (Schnake, S. B., Beal, D. J., & Ruscher, J. B. 2006). Christian would stereotype individuals of jewish descent as “meddling” jews running the countries media and “the niggers right alongside them” (Picciolini, 2017 page 191). In addition to Christian’s established prejudices towards non white individuals, he also secured the positive outlook on white supremacist leaders. According to the following article, “ Because these beliefs seem different than Old-fashioned' racism (e.g., belief in genetic inferiority, support for segregation), modern racists do not believe that they are racist ( Schnake, S. B., Beal, D. J., & Ruscher, J. B. 2006). The internal voices of Clark Martell and Carmine Paterno embedded in Christians thought process would diminish any sort of doubt he had toward his own race. “ ...not all Skrewdriver songs were about hate . They’re about justice man. They don’t only do ‘fuck a nigger songs” (Picciolini, 2017 page 130). Through acts of violence Christian would be titled in local newspapers as “white supremacist mob boss” (Picciolini, 2017 page 181), resulting in nothing more than

In Genesis 1, Sarah is especially elevated as a character compared to Hagar because she exercises her control over Hagar. Although Sarah has more power, Hagar “looked with contempt on her mistress.” (Gen 16: 4-5) When Hagar

Every year, on Rosh Hashana, we read from Sefer Bereishis. We discuss the story of Avraham and Hagar and Yishamel and Sarah and Yitzchak. Avraham and Hagar had Yishmael while Sarah was still barren. Finally, towards the end of their lives, they had Yitzchak. The pasuk there tells us that after that, "Sarah saw that the son of Hagar (Yishmael), the Egyptian, that she had born to Avraham, was mocking. She said to Avraham, 'Drive out this slave-woman and her son, for the son of this slave-woman will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchok.' This thing was very wrong in the eyes of Avraham..." Sarah doesn’t want Hagar and Yishamel to influence Yitzchak’s upbringing so she wanted Avraham to kick them out of the household. He seems to not be so big on the idea,

The story of an Egyptian slave ‘Hagar’ in the book of Genesis chapter 16 was a complete tragedy. Because in the first place, for Sarai, Abram’s wife to suggest that her husband should have sexual intercourse with her handmaid to obtain children from Hagar, the handmaid, it was out of disappointment and frustration. It was chaos and a violation of God’s law and promise to them and their marriage and generation. Even though Sarai does not plan to give Hagar to Abraham as a wife, but as a slave and as an extension of herself and to claim the child to be born as her own. But, this violated the concept of monogamous marriage and rather introduced polygamy. That Islamic religion has been practicing up to date. Secondly, when Hagar saw that she was

Christianity has been fueled primarily by white individuals therefore making God’s image take the form of a white male and this misconstrued image of God has made racial equality a continual struggle throughout generations. In “The Cross and the Lynching Tree,” James Cone talks about how theology is a dominated by white theology and how “whites needed theologians to interpret the gospel in a way that would not require them to acknowledge white supremacy as America’s greatest sin” (Cone 159). While religion certainly has a past plagued by white supremacy, I disagree with Cone’s interpretation of white theologians creating a translation of God’s messages in order to appease white Christians. Cone makes it seem like slavery and black oppression were fueled by white theology but in my opinion the cruelty committed against blacks in America were actually fueled by white individuals who had turned their backs on Gods messages of love and equality. For the same reasons that I disagree with giving God a specific race, I also disagree with creating race specific branches of religion because religion is supposed to be a higher power that views us all as equals and by making it race specific it contradicts the message of equality. Race specific theologies can be helpful for helping specific

After God had appeared to Abram and promised him a son, many years went by and he and Sarah still had no baby. In her impatience and desperation, Sarah took matters into her own hands and gave her maid Hagar to her husband, saying, “Go sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her”. Abram did as he was told, and Hagar, being young and fertile, became