Description
Book SynopsisJudith Casselberry examines the material and spiritual labor of the women of a Black Pentecostal church in Harlem, showing how their work keeps the church running while providing them with a spiritual authority that allows them to exercise power in the male-led church.
Trade Review"Casselberry has written an excellent study of the work of African American women in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Inc. in Harlem. . . . By focusing on developing a holy, black, female personhood, the author shows how 21st-century women’s spiritual power operates in Pentecostal churches that are male led but female dominated. Recommended." -- L. H. Mamiya * Choice *
"An excellent source for educators and students looking to deepen their understanding of black women’s religious power and expression." * WATER *
"[Casselberry] points the way forward with a compelling argument that by centering on these women in a small, urban parish in a less well-known segment of Pentecostalism—Apostolic Pentecostalism, she is able to offer an innovative interpretation of these women’s lives. Her labor has produced an important intervention in a neglected area of scholarship for women’s studies, black and diaspora studies, religious studies, and anthropology." -- Marlon Millner * Pneuma *
"Casselberry’s work is sure to shift the field of Black Pentecostalism studies, as she encourages the field to take seriously the spiritual labor of 20th and 21st century holiness women." -- Ahmad Greene-Hayes * Reading Religion *
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The Labor of Faith sheds light on the paradoxical construction of gender that is characteristic for the broader Pentecostal movement. . . . I am confident that reading Judith Casselberry’s book will inspire researchers engaged in empirical research on gender across religious and secular contexts, in particular those researchers that wish to move beyond the religious secular binary will find inspiration in her conceptualization of women’s labor." -- Brenda Bartelink * Religion and Gender *
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The Labor of Faith is a beautiful ethnography of women’s religious labor in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Inc. . . . Through luminously evocative and accessible prose, Casselberry conveys the deeply felt significance that women in COOLJC attach to their work in its manifold forms and contexts. In so doing, she makes a key contribution to the literature on Pentecostalism that sheds new light on aspects of US labor history as well." -- Frederick Klaits * Anthropological Quarterly *
"This sympathetic and insightful ethnography is a tribute to her empathic and careful observation of a Black Church from a very different tradition. . . .
The Labor of Faith is an important addition to the growing literature that corrects easy condemnation of Pentecostal ‘patriarchy.'" -- Bernice Martin * Journal of Contemporary Religion *
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The Labor of Faith joins a vivid ethnography to an intriguing provocation around the relationship between labor, religiosity, and gender." -- Josh Brahinsky * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
“Judith Casselberry’s
The Labor of Faith made me think deeply.... Everyone should read this text, one that takes seriously my heart and my joy, the practices of Blackpentecostal women, their making worlds otherwise than the normative.” -- Ashon Crawley * Hypatia *
Table of ContentsPrologue ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
1. The Instruments of Faith 17
2. Church Building 45
3. Church Sustaining 79
4. Women's Work 104
5. Harvesting Souls for Christ 125
6. The Beauty of Holiness 152
Conclusion 170
Notes 173
Bibliography 197
Notes 207
