The collective will bring more African American scholarship to 4.5 million users.
Chauncey Allmond dreams of a day when white evangelical preachers will reference the work of African American Bible scholars without even thinking about it. He and his colleagues at Logos Bible Software hope they can make that happen by adding more African American voices to the digital study tools currently used by more than 4.5 million people.
“The African American voice is a powerful voice that needs to be heard,” Allmond said. “There’s a lot of traditions in the African American church that I think Logos is missing out on.”
Logos has been working for about a year to diversify its Bible study products and has gathered a group of African American Christian leaders to help. They call the group the Kerusso Collective. Kerusso is a Greek verb meaning “proclaim” or “herald” and is used in the New Testament to describe the act of preaching the gospel.
In addition to Allmond, the collective includes:
- Charlie Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago
- Cynthia L. Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia
- Esau McCaulley, assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College
- Kenneth C. Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California
- Joseph W. Walker III, bishop of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville
- Ralph Douglas West, pastor of Church Without Walls in Houston
The group will advise Logos on resources and scholarship to include. Logos may have bundles of specific African American resources available early in 2021. The goal is not to produce separate Bible study products, however, but to improve existing material by adding the perspectives of black Christians.
“We don’t think it’s going to be primarily for the ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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