Esau McCaulley Receives Book of the Year Award
Nashotah House is pleased to announce that Esau McCaulley’s Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope (IVP Academic, 2020) has been awarded the 2021 Christianity Today “Beautiful Orthodoxy” Book of the Year.
The Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley graduated from Nashotah House with a Master’s in Sacred Theology (2013). He completed his Ph.D. in New Testament at the University of St Andrews where he studied under the direction of N.T. Wright. Dr. McCaulley is a priest in the Anglican Church of North American (ACNA), and his research and writing focuses on Pauline theology and the intersection of race, Christian identity, and the pursuit of justice.
Dr. McCaulley serves as assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. The Christianity Today Book Awards are presented to books in several categories, including Biblical Studies, Children & Youth, and Spiritual Formation. The “Beautiful Orthodoxy” Award is the award given for overall book of the year. Dr. McCaulley also won the 2020 Emerging Public Intellectual Award sponsored by Acton Institute, Cardus, the Center for Public Justice, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), and Henry Institute.
Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. Partly autobiographical, Dr. McCaulley’s book broaches the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. Meanwhile he also considers the historic practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches, such as those in the American South where he was raised.
McCaulley reflects on Israel’s pain and anger as a way to process Black grief. He contends that just as the prophets warned that the cycle of violence was a dead end and pointed toward the cross as the end of the cycle of vengeance and death, likewise the cross is the place for modern cultures as well where God enters into our pain. McCaulley suggests that the central biblical themes of resurrection, ascension, and the final judgment are necessary in any account of Black anger and pain.
Christianity Today seeks to publish and highlight books most likely to shape Christian life, thought, and culture. In 2019, Hans Boersma’s book Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 2018) was awarded Best Book in Theology and Ethics by Christianity Today. Dr. Boersma is a theologian working in the Reformed tradition, specializing in patristics, sacramental theology, and Nouvelle Théologie. He currently holds the Chair to the Order of St. Benedict Servants of Christ Endowed Professorship in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House, a theological seminary in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.
“Seeing God is a historical study, but it also includes a dogmatic articulation of key characteristics that contribute to our understanding of the beatific vision,” said Dr. Boersma. “Theologians, philosophers, and literary authors have long maintained that the invisible God becomes visible to us. Seeing God shows how God trains us to see his character by transforming our eyes and minds, highlighting continuity from this world to the next. Christ-centered, sacramental, and ecumenical in character, Seeing God presents life as a pilgrimage to see the face of God in the hereafter.”
Both of these awards demonstrate the caliber of professors and visiting scholars teaching at Nashotah House. With a 9:1 student/teacher ratio, Nashotah House offers access to a brilliant faculty who are integral to the students’ formation. See for yourself by taking a free online course with Dr. McCaulley (available now at this link) or Dr. Boersma (coming soon here)!