Historic Negro Spirituals as Biblical Interpretation
Christa Klingbeil Dixon author Daniel L Smith-Christopher translator Kim R Harris translator Daniel L Smith-Christopher editor Kim R Harris editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:29th Jan '25
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
In the 1960s, Dr. Christa K. Dixon’s [1935–2003] work analyzing how the famous “Negro Spirituals” interpreted the Bible was published in German. Rediscovered and newly translated, Drs. Kim R. Harris and Daniel L. Smith-Christopher present Dixon’s text, accompanied by two new essays as both modern critique and a long overdue appreciation of Dixon’s pioneering study.
Dr. Christa K. Dixon [1935 – 2003] grew up during the time of World War 2, where her father, a German Confessing Church pastor, regularly visited American POW camps, and young Christa heard African-American soldiers singing spirituals. Her fascination grew, but Dixon’s interests became quite focused on her interest in how the famous spirituals interpreted the Bible. In the mid-1960s, Dr. Dixon earned her PhD working on “Negro Spirituals” in Germany and published the text that formed from her years of research and long-lasting passion for the spirituals she heard during her visits to the prisoner camps with her father. A work of careful analysis and scholarship, Dixon’s study has since been out of print, but now newly translated and presented for an audience to rediscover. In John Lovell’s important 1972 monograph, Black Song: The Forge and Flame, he wrote, “…Perhaps the most intensive study of Biblical influences in the spiritual is found in Christa Dixon’s Wesen und Wandel geistlicher Volkslieder Negro Spirituals…her analyses are not only deeply intensive but quite creative…”. In this book, Drs. Kim R. Harris and Daniel L. Smith-Christopher provide not only a translation of the published German work, but also contribute two new essays to accompany this timeless study as both modern critique and long overdue appreciation.
The often-overlooked little 1976 classic Negro Spirituals: From Bible to Folksong by German scholar Christa Klingbeil Dixon gets new life in this translation editionof her complete dissertation and book. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, a biblical scholar, and Kim R. Harris, a scholar of African American religious thought and practice with a rich background in liturgy, both of Loyola Marymount University join to frame this stimulating volume. -- Stephen Breck Reid, vice provost for faculty diversity & belonging, Baylor University
Written in the 1960s, this newly-translated dissertation explores the biblical roots of the Spirituals’ texts and the way those roots have been “presented and reinterpreted” in the Spirituals. Dixon is convinced that Spirituals’ tradition is betrayed without an understanding of the “unique unity of life and faith” they embody, and she takes great pains to present her case. Translators Harris and Smith-Christopher contribute additional chapters that address aspects largely ignored by other authors – making this an invaluable book for innumerable reasons. -- Eileen Guenther, Wesley Theological Seminary, author of In Their Own Words: Slave Life and the Power of Spirituals
This important volume by Drs. Harris and Smith-Christopher is a welcome contribution to our understanding of the too often neglected Biblical guideposts of the sacred folk songs that were birthed by enslaved African women and men in America. With the authors’ new editing and translation of Crista Dixon’s classic work, paired with their own fresh exploratory essays, scholars and lay readers alike will find themselves ushered into a whole new world! -- Arthur C. Jones, University of Denver Lamont School of Music, author of Wade in the Water: The Wisdom of the Spirituals
ISBN: 9781978713659
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
466 pages