In reading his book over the last month my soul has been edified, my eyes have been opened, and my heart has been convicted to read more broadly from minority expressions of faith. Unfortunately, white evangelicals only hear minority evangelicals’ theology if it echoes white evangelical voices.įor these reasons and more, we (especially white) Christians need to take up the works of men like Charles Octavius Boothe. Because evangelical biblical and theological studies have excluded the voices of racial minorities, evangelical theology is shaped by the concerns of the dominant culture. Plain Theology for Plain People requires evangelicals to engage non-white theological voices. Black evangelicals have equal claim to the evangelical tradition-even though evangelicals have historically muted their voices.

Boothe offers a window into an unexplored vista of theological expression. Plain Theology for Plain People shows black evangelicals that they belong in the broad evangelical tradition. Today, as in Boothe’s time, many ten to caricature black Christian faith as merely “religious feeling and fervor.”

Black Christianity is largely an oral tradition, and its written resources have been obscured by racial bias. Plain Theology for Plain People destroys reductionist stereotypes of black faith. Introduction to Plain Theology for Plain PeopleĬhapter 4: The Son: His Coming and His WorkĬhapter 5: Gifts Flowing from the Grace of GodĬhapter 6: How Christians Should Live and LaborĪs Strickland observes, there are at least three reasons for reading Plain Theology for Plain People. “The doctrines of our holy religion need to be studied in order, according to some definite system,” he wrote, “but simplicity should prevail-simplicity of arrangement and simplicity of language.” Thus, Boothe set out to write a succinct and accessible theological handbook.' (from the Introduction by Walter R. While leaders and laity alike desperately needed biblical and theological truth, they had little time, energy, and resources to pursue education. He accommodated an unlearned audience that included pastors, teachers, and community leaders born into poverty with little access to education. To spare others his frustration with learning and teaching from books laced with dense theological rhetoric, Boothe wrote Plain Theology for Plain People.īoothe wrote for the average sharecropper. 'Charles Octavius Boothe (1845–1924) was a reluctant teacher.

Strickland II reintroduces this forgotten masterpiece. A Baptist pastor born into slavery, Boothe brought the heights of academic theology to his congregants, so that they might be filled with good things. “Before the charge ‘know thyself,’ ought to come the far greater charge, ‘know thy God.’” In this short textbook first published in 1890, Charles Octavius Boothe simply and elegantly lays out the basics of theology for everyday people. Charles Octavius Boothe with an Introduction by Walter R.

Charles octavius boothe