Meet Hakeem Bradley | Bible Scholar

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hakeem Bradley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hakeem, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then spent the latter half of my life in Portland, Oregon before moving down to Georgia. All of these environments cultivated different aspects of who I am today. I learned resiliency, grit, and loyalty during my upbringing in Philly. However, Portland was a very different environment than Philly. Portland shaped me to stand firmly within my blackness (because there weren’t many of us there), to slow down my pace of life, and to explore my creativity. Even in my short time in Atlanta, I’m learning how to continue to take risks. My family and I took a BIG risk to move out here to join our community of family and friends, and it’s been rewarding thus far. Who I am today is a culmination of these three environments.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I work at a non-profit named BibleProject in our scholarship department. In a nutshell, our aim is to help people experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. We do this through animation videos, online classes, a podcast, and more – and it’s all FREE.

One lane that I’ve been operating in is helping to contextualize our content in various black communities. For example, I strive to show how Hip-Hop possesses elements that help us understand the literary elements of the Bible. Producers often sample melodies from older songs and re-package them for a new artist to rap on. Later biblical authors sample words and themes from older biblical texts, to re-package them for the later context they were writing in.

I got into this field of work through pastoral ministry. I was in pastoral ministry in various spaces beginning in college and up until 2021. I always knew that I was a bible nerd, so I dreamed of studying it for a living one day. Lo and behold, in 2021 my friend Tim offered me a job at BibleProject, and here we are.

It wasn’t an easy road though. I realized toward the end of my time in pastoral ministry that I got into it in the first place because it was what other people told me I should be doing. 2020 was a rude awakening with Covid, ethnic tensions, and the election. So, it was during that time that I had to think to myself, “Is this what I want to be doing for the rest of my life?” I was scared to step away from it because it was all I knew professionally. But, I went with my gut to pursue biblical scholarship and I haven’t looked back since.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d take them to Taqueria del Sol, Chattahoochee Food Works, DaVinci’s Pizzeria, and Ponce City Market to get some grub. To hang out, I definitely have to take them to the Battery and to sporting events – whether that be the Braves, Hawks, or the Falcons. Then, I would have to introduce them to my group of friends down here. My friends are videographers, music artists, sports players, entrepreneurs, and more and I feel like they could have fun seeing what the world is like for people in these realms of society.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to my friend Adam Thomason. That man has helped shape the trajectory of my life in ways that he doesn’t even know.

Website: https://www.hakeembradley.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hakeembradley1/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bibleproject

Other: https://www.threads.net/@hakeembradley1

Image Credits
BibleProject