AUG
'Bib/e. an African book, J
GREENSBORO, N.C.
African place and people in
t e Bible range from t e
Garden of Eden to the cburcb
leaders bo \)rdained tbe
apo tie Paul, and
African-American sbould
e pride in tbat berita e.
at tbe m Ie of a
Ily Bible tudy led by t
Rev. G. e ley Raney, a
United Churcb of Cbrist
minister from Daytona Beacb,
Fla., at 1 e biennial
convention of United Black
Chri tians, July 10-14 in
Green boro. T e convention
dre about 200 dele ares,
repre enting some 70.000
African-American ware
member of Ibe
1.6-million-member United
Church of Christ .
. "Chri tianity i not ju t
omelbing we learned in
slavery in America," said
Raney t pa tor of
. Tubman-King Community
Church in Daytona Beacb.
"We ere pre ent from tbe
very start, in biblical limes.
The Bible is an African book,
containing stories by and
about the people of the land
of Cana n. who were blood
brother of the people of
Egypt and Ethiopia."
'Such in i hts help to refute
racist claims "that BI c
people are a people ithout a
civilization. without a
hi tory," Raney aid. "We
mu t not let European define
hi tory for us. We mu t define
hi tory for ourselve and
control our de tiny."
III-:R .. , USI G the ew
Rcvi ed Standard Vcr ion, are
some of the example Raney
u ed:
-The fir�t n tion
. mention d in the Bible is n
African one.
Gene i 2:10-14 in
loc ting thc br nchcs of "a
river that now' out of Eden to
water the garden." i neludes
Gihon - "It i� the one that
no . round thc hole land
of Cush." "Cu h" mean
"BI ck" and represents
Ethiopi • Raney said, noting
that Greek explorer called it
"I nd of the burnt face." He
al 0 id 20th-century genetic
nd rch cological re earcb
su cst that humankind
ori inatcd in Africa.
-African references
omctirncs arc rmsscd bccau e
biblic I writers most often
u ed national and tribal
n me not names of
ntinent . Cu h. Cushi nd
na n are biblical ords that
refer to African place or to
people ith dar skin. Among
other are E ypt. Ham.
Hamite. Hittite. Put, Libya.
imrod Jebusitc. Amoruc,
Sh ba nd Syria. .
-Mo c . rai cd in the
African nation or E£!� pt. "
in tru ted in aJithe wivdorn of
th E ypti ns" (A�l' 7:�:!).
He "m rried a 'uvhuc
Co ti ed ro P e 7
minister says
African-American ach' evers
share a common trait: a profound
co • an inner drive, that
lets noth· ng stand in the way of
education. Because they know
that education is c . J for
success.
AtRJR
\
share that
drive for I opportunity .
So that Mry Af . �merican .
son and daughter dan ach'eve
the potential within them.
• A century of OMIUl.IUI
millions of
facir es- fro
to help estIDIISn
University to
• A major contnbutor to t
it was created in 1944, and a IUUIIUWI
·1 . Dollar Roundtable"
• Dedicated to i� K-12 pu .
innovative programs th
School Fund, t . s r awaJmeo
grants to vmh
�G 7