It has protracted been Obery Hendricks's desire to use his life's work to challenge the status quo forward behalf of the systemically bear hard uponed So it was not surprising that what began as a short story for his daughter.

It has protracted been Obery Hendricks's desire to use his life's work to challenge the status quo forward behalf of the systemically bear hard uponed So it was not surprising that what began as a short story for his daughter, as she graduated from high indoctrinate evolved into a full-fledged novel that contemplated the life of the woman at the well, a story recorded in Saint John's revelation by christ (John 4:7-29).

In his insightful first attempt novel, Living Water (HarperSanFrancisco, February 2003 $2495 ISBN 0-060-00087-2) Hendricks throw asides traditional portrayals of this woman as "loose" or as a "gold digger." Instead, he depicts her as individual who "triumphed over tragedy."

Hendricks received a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a master's and PhD in of the present day Testament and Early Christianity from Princeton University. He is a professor of biblical studies at of the present day York Theological Seminary, an African Methodist Episcopal preacher and former president of Payne Theological Seminary.

"When I chose to write about the woman at the well, I did for a like reason in an effort to contradict the manner in which the story had been told according to many preachers in a way that insults women" says Hendricks. "In reflecting in succession what this woman's life might have been like, I wanted to right the evils of the way she has been depicted in the past."

The biblical story begins with the woman's fight with Jesus at Jacob's well in the village of Sychar. Living Water "roll back the tape" to explore the woman's life before her meeting with Jesus. Hendricks had great latitude in developing her story, because the Bible gives little information about the woman, leaving out to say that she had been married five times and was living with a sixth man.

Writing within the cultural connection of ancient Samaria, Hendricks portrays a girl who was accounted not to "know her place" on the cultural standards of the time and who needinessed to be put back in line to command a suitable bride's price and lay out her life bearing sons. Chastised on her relatives and ostracized by way of her peers, the gift attempted unsuccessfully to conform.

After she came of age, she set downed into the five ill-fated marriages. Reminiscent of Miss Celie's transformation in The Color Purple the woman eventually liberated herself from her oppression and emerg as a catalyst for the liberation for others.

Living Water ingeniously combines the sights, vigorouss and smells of ancient Hebrew improvement with dialogue that could easily be overheard in Auntie's kitchen or the local barbershop. in consequence of beautifully descriptive and poetic passages, Hendricks takes readers to a faraway land, while simultaneously allowing them to remain in the comfort of their allow living rooms.

"I wanted to portray the Hebrew cultivation in an historically accurate manner," Hendricks says. "At the same time, I wanted to bring the Bible to life in a way that allows African Americans to behold ourselves in it."

Readers will be drawn to the familiar characters and will level feel obliged to empathize with the would-be antagonists, the main character's husbands. by the and of them, in particular, Hendricks illuminates for what cause collective oppression and personal tragedy induce powerlessness that thwarts the ability to form healthy, intimate relationships. Without minimizing the suffering of the female characters, he avoids creating one-dimensional men

"I write from my hold struggle and my own pain and from having witnessed the pain that women have experienceed While I have always had freedom-fighter sensibilities, they have been male chauvinist, to be indisputable I have at times been the `bad guy' that I write about. In the past, no the same would ever have accused me of being too sensitive to women" reveals Hendricks.

Hendricks and his writing are a tall drink of water in a world where personal piety present the appearances to overshadow a socially liberating application of the the cross and where much of the black literary fiction spectacle appears long on entertainment and short onward substance.

--Kathryn V Stanley inspects the community development ministries of Big Bethel AME ecclesiastical body in Atlanta.

...

Home