Around a hundred Black people joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church) in the nineteenth century. From 1873 to 1876, a clerk created one of the most extensive records of an early Black Latter-day Saint when he wrote down Samuel Chambers's religious testimonies given in deacons quorum meetings. Though these records have been known to the academic community for decades, this article represents the first scholarly analysis of them. We argue that Chambers used LDS scriptural language and the authority of his own experience to clear a place rhetorically for himself in the deacons quorum and for Black people in the LDS Church more broadly. Chambers implicitly illustrated his fitness for holding the LDS priesthood and participating in LDS temple rituals, aspects of LDS practice from which Chambers was excluded because he was Black. This article adds depth and richness to our understanding of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century African American Mormon experience and provides a case study in some of the ways written scripture and spoken language intersect and function for members of a religious community with varying levels of literacy among members.

中文翻译：

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“不仅对外邦人，而且对非洲人”：塞缪尔·钱伯斯和圣经

十九世纪，大约有一百名黑人加入了耶稣基督后期圣徒教会（摩门教徒教会）。从 1873 年到 1876 年，一名书记员写下塞缪尔·钱伯斯在执事定额组会议上所作的宗教见证，创造了早期黑人后期圣徒最广泛的记录之一。尽管这些记录几十年来一直为学术界所知，但本文代表了对它们的首次学术分析。我们认为，钱伯斯利用摩门教圣经语言和他自己经验的权威，在言辞上为自己在执事定额组中以及更广泛的摩门教教会中的黑人中占据了一席之地。钱伯斯含蓄地说明了他适合担任摩门教祭司并参加摩门教圣殿仪式，钱伯斯因为是黑人而被排除在摩门教实践的各个方面。本文加深了我们对 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初非裔美国摩门教经历的理解，并提供了一个案例研究，探讨书面经文和口头语言的交叉以及对具有不同水平的宗教社区成员的作用。成员的识字能力。