Description
Book SynopsisReverend Albert Cleage Jr. and the Black Prophetic Tradition: A Reintroduction of The Black Messiah considers how Albert Cleage Jr., in his groundbreaking book of sermons, The Black Messiah (1969), reconfigures the rules of the game as it relates to Christianity and the social political realities of Black people in Detroit and across the country. Taking a rhetorical approach, this book explores how and what The Black Messiah (1969) has contributed to the broader scope of Black Liberation Theology and Black religious rhetoric. Scholars of rhetoric, communication, religious studies, and African American history will find this book particularly useful.
Trade Review"This book is not only an important and long-overdue study of the rhetoric of the Reverend Albert Cleage, but it also develops a robust analytical framework that avoids the limitations of the Eurocentrism that has informed much previous scholarship on prophetic rhetoric. Dr. Fisher’s dexterous close readings reveal the subtlety and power of Cleage’s sermons, while also amplifying the potential of these sermons to both describe and disrupt the intersections of rhetoric, race, and religion. The Reverend Cleage speaks through Dr. Fisher’s skillful analyses in a way that surely will, and surely should, engage a new generation of scholars. This is an eloquent, excellent book."
-- Robert E. Terrill, Indiana University
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: What The Black Messiah Offers Religious and Rhetorical Studies
Chapter 3: A General Rhetorical Assessment of The Black Messiah
Chapter 4: Albert Cleage’s Epistle to Stokely (A Close Reading)
Chapter 5: Brother Malcolm, Dr. King, and Black Power
Chapter 6: Conclusions
Bibliography
About the Author
