The Black Church in America

This book gives readers a broad understanding of the Black Church in America and a sense of its uniqueness in the wider world. 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.

Acknowledgements 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