“Deplorable Exegesis”: Dick Gregory's Irreverent Scriptural Authority in the 1960s and 1970s

IF 0.3 3区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE-A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION Pub Date : 2020-01-01 DOI:10.1017/rac.2020.9
Vaughn A. Booker
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines comedian Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory's comical articulation of religious belief and belonging through his speeches and religious writings during the 1960s and 1970s. It argues that, during his most visible public presence as an activist and comedic entertainer, Gregory bore an irreverent scriptural authority for his readers and comedy audiences who sought a prominent, public affirmation of their suspicion and criticism of religious authorities and conventional religious teachings. This suspicion would allow them to grapple with the oppressive presence of religion in the long history of Western colonialism, in the U.S. context of slavery, and in the violence and segregation of Jim Crow America. Following this religious suspicion, however, Gregory's consistent goal was to implement just social teachings stemming from socially and theologically progressive readings of the Hebrew Bible and of the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. Gregory's irreverence modeled, and reflected, the maintenance of belief in both the divine and in the justness of remaking an oppressive, violent, unequal world through nonviolent activism in accordance with his understanding of the teachings of the King James scriptures that he read throughout his life. This study of comedy uses one African American male's production of irreverent, authoritative religious rhetoric to display a noteworthy mode of mid-century African American religious liberalism. It is also a case study highlighting the complexity of religious belief and affiliation. Despite acknowledged ambivalences about his commitments to religion, Gregory also modeled ways for audiences to reframe religious commitments to produce social change.
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“可悲的训诂”:迪克·格里高利在20世纪60年代和70年代对圣经权威的不敬
本文考察了喜剧演员理查德·克拉克顿·“迪克”·格里高利在20世纪60年代和70年代通过他的演讲和宗教著作对宗教信仰和归属感的喜剧表达。书中认为,在格列高利作为一名积极分子和喜剧演员最引人注目的公众形象中,他对读者和喜剧观众来说是一种不敬的圣经权威,这些读者和喜剧观众寻求一种突出的、公开的对宗教权威和传统宗教教义的怀疑和批评。这种怀疑将使他们能够在西方殖民主义的漫长历史中,在美国奴隶制的背景下,在美国的暴力和种族隔离中,与宗教的压迫作斗争。然而,在这种宗教怀疑之后,格列高利的一贯目标是实施社会教义,这些教义源于对希伯来圣经和福音书中耶稣教义的社会和神学上的进步解读。格列高利的不敬模仿并反映了,对神的信仰和对正义的信仰通过非暴力的行动来重塑一个压迫,暴力,不平等的世界这与他对詹姆斯国王的教义的理解是一致的他一生都在阅读詹姆斯国王的经文。这个喜剧研究用一个非裔美国男性的不敬的、权威的宗教修辞来展示一种值得注意的本世纪中期非裔美国人宗教自由主义模式。这也是一个案例研究,突出了宗教信仰和信仰的复杂性。尽管人们承认他对宗教的承诺存在矛盾心理,但格里高利也为观众树立了重塑宗教承诺以产生社会变革的榜样。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.40
自引率
25.00%
发文量
7
期刊介绍: Religion and American Culture is devoted to promoting the ongoing scholarly discussion of the nature, terms, and dynamics of religion in America. Embracing a diversity of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, this semiannual publication explores the interplay between religion and other spheres of American culture. Although concentrated on specific topics, articles illuminate larger patterns, implications, or contexts of American life. Edited by Philip Goff, Stephen Stein, and Peter Thuesen.
期刊最新文献
Andrew Jackson Davis and Spiritualist Constructions of Religion(s) Cross and Crown™: Trademarks and the Legal Naming of American Religions The Pluralization of Scripture in Early American Protestantism: Competing Bible Translations and the Debate over Universal Salvation, ca. 1700–1780 “I Will Surely Have You Deported:” Undocumenting Clergy Sexual Abuse in an Immigrant Community “Fit to Be a Midwife”: Protestantism, Moral Character, and the State Supervision of Black Lay Midwives, 1931–1946
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