{"product_id":"esotericism-in-african-american-religious-experience-there-is-a-mystery-9789004283091","title":"Esotericism in African American Religious Experience:  There Is a Mystery ...","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Esotericism in African American Religious Experience: “There is a Mystery” …, Stephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr. assemble twenty groundbreaking essays that provide a rationale and parameters for Africana Esoteric Studies (AES): a new trans-disciplinary enterprise focused on the investigation of esoteric lore and practices in Africa and the African Diaspora. The goals of this new field — while akin to those of Religious Studies, Africana Studies, and Western Esoteric Studies — are focused on the impulses that give rise to Africana Esoteric Traditions (AETs) and the ways in which they can be understood as loci where issues such as race, ethnicity, and identity are engaged; and in which identity, embodiment, resistance, and meaning are negotiated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Overall, the book is well worth the read. For one, its transdisciplinary nature makes it appealing to scholars in the fields of visual and performing arts, history, anthropology, religious studies, African American studies, and business. Moreover, while it does not quite succeed in decentering Christianity, it certainly shows the importance of esoteric traditions alongside and within the religion. Perhaps most importantly, it refuses to reduce the African American experience to a simple narrative of the struggle for political equality. On the contrary, it enriches the realm of scholarly interpretation by persuasively arguing that secrets can drive culture and religion just as well as politics.\" Jeffrey E. Anderson, University of Louisiana Monroe, Nova Religio, Vol. 20, No. 4\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCONTENTS  \tForeword \tJeffrey J. Kripal\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \tPreface\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Introduction: Africana Esoteric Studies: Mapping a New Endeavor Stephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr.  Part I: (Pre-) 19th Century  1\tEsoteric Writing of Vodou: Grimoires, Sigils, and the Houngan’s Notebook \tYvonne Chireau and Bon Mambo Vye Zo Kommande\t  2\tPaschal Beverly Randolph in the African American Community \tLana Finley  3\tThe Self Divine: Know Ye Not that Ye are Gods? \tDarnise C. Martin  Part II: Early to Mid 20th Century  4\tWorking Roots and Conjuring Traditions: Relocating ‘Cults and Sects’ in African American Religious History Elizabeth Perez \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t 5\tSpiritual is Universal: Development of Black Spiritualist Churches \tMary Ann Clark  6\tThe Harlem Renaissance as Esotericism: Black Oragean Modernism \tJon Woodson\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  7\tMathematical Theology: Numerology in the Religious Thought of Tynnetta Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan \tStephen C. Finley\t  8\tOn the Knowledge of Self and Others: Secrecy, Concealment, and Revelation in Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (1934-1975) \tJustine Bakker  9\tPost-Imperial Appropriation of Text, Tradition, and Ritual in the Writings of Henri Gamache \tHugh R. Page, Jr.  10\tMystery Matters: Embodiment and African American Mystics \tChad Pevateaux  11\tShow and Prove: Five Percenters and the Study of African American Esotericism \tBiko Mandela Gray  12\tThe “Nu” Nation: An Analysis of Malachi Z. York’s Nuwaubians \tPaul Easterling\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  13\tSacred Not Secret: Esoteric Knowledge in the United Nuwanbian Nation of Moors \tJulius Bailey\t  Part III: Late 20th Century to Present-day\t\t  14\tAstro-Black Mythology \tMarques Redd\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  15\tConjurational Contraptions: Techno-hermeneutics, Mechanical Wizardry, and the Material Culture of African American Folk Magic \tStephen Wehmeyer  16\tPortraying Portraits: The Intersectionality of Self, Art, and the Lacanian Gaze in the Nahziryah Monastic Community \tMargarita Simon Guillory and Aundrea Matthews\t\t\t\t  17\tThose Mysteries, Our Mysteries: Ishmael Reed and the Construction of a Black Esoteric Tradition \tMarques Redd  18\tRocking’ for a Risen Savior: Bakongo and Christian Iconicity in the Louisiana Easter Rock Ritual \tJoyce Marie Jackson  19\tPole Dancing for Jesus: Negotiating Movement and Gender in Men’s Musical Praise \tAlisha Lola Jones  20\tWonder Working Power: Reclaiming Mystical and Cosmological Approaches to Africana Spiritual Practices \tBarbara A. Holmes  Conclusion: The Continuing Quest to Map Secrecy, Concealment, and Revelatory Experiences in Africana Esoteric Discourse: “There Is a Mystery…” Stephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr.   Afterword Anthony B. Pinn  Bibliography","brand":"Brill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53210656735575,"sku":"9789004283091","price":168.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/esotericism-in-african-american-religious-experience-there-is-a-mystery-9789004283091","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}