The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600 - 2000

This book revolutionises our understanding of race. Building upon the insight that races are products of culture rather than biology, Colin Kidd demonstrates that the Bible - the key text in Western culture - has left a vivid imprint on modern racial theories and prejudices. Fixing his attention on the changing relationship between race and theology in the Protestant Atlantic world between 1600 and 2000 Kidd shows that, while the Bible itself is colour-blind, its interpreters have imported racial significance into the scriptures. Kidd's study probes the theological anxieties which lurked behind the confident facade of of white racial supremacy in the age of empire and race slavery, as well as the ways in which racialist ideas left their mark upon new forms of religiosity. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the histories of race or religion. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 9 Chapter 1 Prologue: Race in the Eye of the Beholder 11 Chapter 2 Introduction: Race as Scripture Problem 29 Was adam white or black? 39 Was cain black? which race did he encounter in the land of nod? 43 Were noah and his sons the founders of the great racial divisions of mankind? 45 Did the curse upon ham turn him and his posterity black? 49 Did moses provide a precedent for miscegenation? 51 Which race constitutes the surviving remnant of the lost tribes of israel? 53 Was jesus white or black? 54 Was jesus aryan or semitic? 58 Chapter 3 Race and Religious Orthodoxy in the Early Modern Era 64 Chapter 4 Race, the Enlightenment and the Authority of Scripture 89 Chapter 5 Monogenesis, Slavery and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Faith 131 Chapter 6 The Aryan Moment: Racialising Religion in the Nineteenth Century 178 Chapter 7 Forms of Racialised Religion 213 British israelism and its offshoots 213 Christian identity and the religion of race hatred 228 Mormons 236 Theosophy 247 Chapter 8 Black Counter-Theologies 257 Chapter 9 Conclusion 281 Notes 287 Chapter 1 287 Chapter 2 289 Chapter 3 292 Chapter 4 295 Chapter 5 300 Chapter 6 305 Chapter 7 308 Chapter 8 311 Chapter 9 314 Index 315 "This book revolutionises our understanding of race. Building upon the insight that races are products of culture rather than biology, Colin Kidd demonstrates that the Bible - the key text in Western culture - has left a vivid imprint on modern racial theories and prejudices. Fixing his attention on the changing relationship between race and theology in the Protestant Atlantic world between 1600 and 2000, Kidd shows that, while the Bible itself is colour-blind, its interpreters have imported racial significance into the scriptures. Kidd's study probes the theological anxieties which lurked behind the confident facade of white racial supremacy in the age of empire and race slavery, as well as the ways in which racialist ideas left their mark upon new forms of religiosity."--Jacket Prologue : Race In The Eye Of The Beholder -- Introduction : Race As Scripture Problem -- Race And Religious Orthodoxy In The Early Modern Era -- Race, The Enlightenment And The Authority Of Scripture -- Monogenesis, Slavery And The Nineteenth-century Crisis Of Faith -- The Aryan Moment : Racialising Religion In The Nineteenth Century -- Forms Of Racialized Religion -- Black Counter-theologies. Colin Kidd. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 277-304) And Index. This book explores the way in which religious ideas have shaped British and American thinking about race between 1600 and 2000. It shows that the Bible has been just as influential as science over the last few centuries in forging racial attitudes and identities

Study of the changing relationship between race and theology in the Protestant Atlantic world since
1600.