Alvin C. Bernstine

A daily devotional designed to enrich the social-justice perspective of practicing Christians and faith believers. It is set in a meditative format: general statement, biblical perspective, reflection questions, and prayer response.

The evening and the morning represents a liturgical cadence that re-shaped the story of beginnings for a people who needed them. Exploring the Jewish perspective on the Creation Story, a hermeneutical lens is provided that gives powerful insight to what a people of faith can do to re-story a faith of resistance. Departing from the traditional evangelical understanding the Creation Story, the author follow its origin into one of the defining experiences of Jewish faith - the Exile. Exile defines and shapes the Hebrew Bible, and what evangelical Christians call the Old Testament. This is a concept that many of us chose to ignore, even while being exposes to it early our educational experiences. During this dark episode of debilitating oppression, the composers of the Creation Story redefined their reality by presenting a God who creates from the darkness, in opposition to the emptiness, and in spite of the chaos. The evening metaphorically serves as the acknowledgement of the darkness, while the morning provides the metaphor of hope of a new day. Each day, with the exception of the seventh day, addresses a dimension of the oppressive evening with the creative hope of the morning.The book is broken up into three sections, Chapters 1 through 3 are foundational, beginning with the fact that Hermeneutics Matter, secondly The Creation Story Matters, and thirdly, The Evening and The Morning Matters. The foundational chapters are used to shape a liberatory hermenutic and lens. Once the foundation has been establish, each day is presented as a homilietical response to the liberatory hermeneutic. From the perspective of the exilic experience of an African American, each day is shaped by the hermeneutical lens and questions are offered for personal thought and/or group discussions.

The reader is invited into an exploration of the biblical text through the perspective of the prophetic. The author contends that the radical challenges of the prophetic are essential attributes of the biblical text which offers us profound possibilities for faithful living. It is through the lens of the prophetic where the American church in general, and the African American church in particular, can regain its focus for relevant proclamation and ministry. Begining with the Exodus story, Bernstine invites us to ponder the prophetic roots of the Judeo-Christian faith as he explores the various genres of the biblical text with a sensitivity to the Christian year. His commitment to include the influences of Judaism, Jesus's primary faith community, nuances the readings with radical freshness.