{"product_id":"dividing-the-faith-9781479803187","title":"Dividing the Faith","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUncovers the often overlooked participation of African Americans and Native Americans in early Protestant churches\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhillis Wheatley was stolen from her family in Senegambia, and, in 1761, slave traders transported her to Boston, Massachusetts, to be sold. She was purchased by the Wheatley family who treated Phillis far better than most eighteenth-century slaves could hope, and she received a thorough education while still, of course, longing for her freedom. After four years, Wheatley began writing religious poetry. She was baptized and became a member of a predominantly white Congregational church in Boston. More than ten years after her enslavement began, some of her poetry was published in London, England, as a book titled \u003ci\u003ePoems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral\u003c\/i\u003e. This book is evidence that her experience of enslavement was exceptional. \u003cbr\u003eWheatley remains the most famous black Christian of the colonial era. Though her experiences and accomplishments w\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDividing the Faith \u003c\/i\u003eis a remarkable recovery of the presence of African Americans and Native people in the predominantly white churches of early New England and the mid-Atlantic. Richard Boles's imaginative mining of the sources reveals that interracial religious activity endured into the early nineteenth century and that there was nothing inevitable about the division of American churches along the color line. -- Christine Leigh Heyrman, University of Delaware\u003cbr\u003eIn this timely and richly textured book, Richard Boles adds critical nuance to the history of race and religion in the United States. His account is strongly worth reading, not just for all we learn about the infinite complexities of race relations in Indian, black, and white churches, but for the hundreds of individual stories, people of color exercising spiritual agency and, without doubt, moral courage. -- Margaret Bendroth, author of The Last Puritans: Mainline Protestants and the Power of the Past\u003cbr\u003e“The most segregated time in America is 11 a.m. on Sunday,” or so the saying goes. That wasn’t always the case. In fact, as Richard Boles shows, surprising numbers of Blacks and Indians worshiped in northern churches from the colonial period through the 1850s, until driven away by racism and the desire for self-determination. Boles’s original and timely work reveals the tangled interplay of race and religion in early American history. -- Jon Sensbach, author of Rebecca’s Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World\u003cbr\u003eA comparative analysis of African American and Native American peoples’ participation in white churches, Boles’s study encourages us to reconsider the conflicting politics of history and memory; specifically, how the social and cultural views of subsequent generations of Americans have distorted the assorted nature of the past. * American Religion *\u003cbr\u003eThere is no question that Boles’s remarkable spadework has laid the groundwork for further inquiry. One can only hope that he and others will continue to pursue these questions, which bear so directly on our understanding of the Christian past and present. * Lutheran Quarterly *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New York University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409044349271,"sku":"9781479803187","price":27.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781479803187.jpg?v=1730505222","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/dividing-the-faith-9781479803187","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}