Description
Book SynopsisThis book gives readers a broad understanding of the Black Church in America and a sense of its uniqueness in the wider world.
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- Explores the history of the Black Church in America, its African roots, beliefs, practices, politics, and contemporary moral dilemmas
- Argues that in the Black Church, individual and communal destiny are bound together
- The author is a Priest in the Episcopal Church and teaches spirituality and Black Church studies at Duke University.
Trade Review"Michael Battle's book is a wise and bold treatment of the most complex phenomenon in Afro-American life: The Black Church. We need to listen to his words."
Cornel West, Princeton University "The key to understanding Battle's fine study of the black church is found in his background as an African American Episcopal priest. His major thesis is that a strong sense of community pervades African American spirituality, which comes from communal African religious traditions and the survival needs of enslaved Africans in a hostile American environment. Although Battle's treatment of the historical material is not new, his emphasis on the communal worship and spirituality of African American Christianity is an important theological direction. Deeply influenced by the theology of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who ordained him, Battle (Virginia Theological Seminary) argues that the communal spirituality of African Americans should be inclusive, eventually "inviting others to be black." He pushes this theme of community and reconciliation with a chapter that elaborates on Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of "the Beloved Community," indicating that the black church can be the fulfillment of that view. He concludes the study with two challenges: a "Churchless Black Church" and a "Womanless Black Church." The book includes a historical time line and a bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and specialists in the field." Choice
"The African American churches need less absolutizing in order to undertake their great task of addressing the still rampant inequality and structural racism that criminalizes so many of their young males and reduces others to passivity. A radical gospel is needed more than ever, and it is to be hoped that this book will stimulate research to galvanize the churches into reflective action."
Theological Book Review
"An intriguing attempt at building a case for an African American Spirituality that is communal and relational in nature."
Expository Times
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ix
Introduction: An Amphibious Worldview xi
1 Emergence of What is African 1
African Warnings 1
What is African? 12
2 The Particularity of African American Spirituality 23
3 The Black Church in the Shadow of Slavery 43
The Scourge of Slavery 46
The Survival of Africanism 57
The Emergence of Black Denominations 60
4 Communal Worship 66
The Controversy of Emotionalism 70
“Spiritual Song” and the Emergence of Black Denominations 72
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 77
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 77
African American Baptists Churches 78
National Baptist Convention, USA 85
African American Pentecostalism 86
Black Worship 88
5 Inviting Others to Be Black 98
African vs. Black: Dialectic Tension 103
James Cone and Desmond Tutu 106
African and Black: Communal Synthesis 115
6 The Black Church as the Beloved Community 127
King’s View: Prophecy and Nonviolence 133
African American Responses to King 144
King’s Dream of the Beloved Community 152
Communal Antithesis for King 154
7 Embodying African American Spirituality 163
A Churchless Black Church 165
A Womanless Black Church 169
The Full Embodiment of the Black Church 176
Timeline of the Black Church 183
Websites for Historic Black Denominations 203
Bibliography 204
Index 216
