Description
Originally published in Born to Preach: Essays in Honor of the Ministry of Henry & Ella Mitchell, Samuel K. Roberts, ed. (Judson Press, 2000), 4054.
The Bible is filled with commands to care for the widows, the orphans, the aliens, and the poor, "the least of these." Dr. Robert Wafawanaka traces these traditions of social justice back through ancient traditions. He exhorts modern ministers to preach a word of justice to the poor and to those who are oppressors. The rich African American tradition of caring for family and worship through action, accompanied with the examples of great preachers such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Samuel D. Proctor, give pastors the tools they need to proclaim a message of hope.
ROBERT WAFAWANAKA, ThD, is assistant professor of biblical studies and Old Testament at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. His research and teaching interests are in Israelite literature, biblical Hebrew, and poverty and wealth in the Bible.