This article presents the first comprehensive reception-history of Mark 3:31–35 / Matthew 12:46–50 in African-American religious experience. From the auction block to the ballroom floor, Black Christians have heard Jesus redraw the boundaries of family in fire and blood: when biological kinship was weaponised to destroy, chosen kinship became the unbreakable. This study traces that 400-year testimony across ten historical moments and issues a prophetic call to the contemporary church: catch up, or get left behind.
Mark Edward Chard (2026) studied this question.