Spiritual and Social Transformation in African American Spiritual Churches

Spiritual and Social Transformation in African American Spiritual Churches
Author: Margarita Simon Guillory
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2017-12-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351392255

At the core of African American religion’s response to social inequalities has been a symbiotic relationship between socio-political activism and spiritual restoration. Drawing on archival material and ethnographic fieldwork with African American Spiritual Churches in the USA, this book examines how their spiritual and social work can shed light on the interplay between corporate activism and individual spirituality. This book traces the development of this "politico-spiritual" approach to injustice from the beginning of the twentieth century through the opening decade of the twenty-first century, using the work of African American Spiritual Churches as a lens through which to observe its progression. Addressing subjects such as spiritual healing, support of the homeless, gender equality and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, it demonstrates that these communities are clearly motivated by the dual concerns of the soul and the community. This study diversifies our understanding of the African American religious landscape, highlighting an approach to social injustice that conjoins both political and spiritual transformations. As such, it will be of significant interest to scholars of religious studies, African American studies and politics.

Esotericism in African American Religious Experience

Esotericism in African American Religious Experience
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2014-11-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004283420

In 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.

The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans

The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans
Author: Claude F. Jacobs
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2001
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781572331488

The New Orleans Spiritual Churches constitute a distinctive African American belief system. Influenced by Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Spiritualism, and Voodoo, the group is a New World syncretic faith, similar to Espiritismo, Santeria, and Umbanda. In The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans, Claude Jacobs and Andrew Kaslow combine a historical account of the emergence of this religion with careful ethnographic description of current congregations. Complementing their text with striking photographs, the authors convey the ecstasy at the heart of the Spiritual experience. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Voodoo

Voodoo
Author: Jeffrey E. Anderson
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2024-03-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807181803

Despite several decades of scholarship on African diasporic religion, Voodoo remains underexamined, and the few books published on the topic contain inaccuracies and outmoded arguments. In Voodoo: An African American Religion, Jeffrey E. Anderson presents a much-needed modern account of the faith as it existed in the Mississippi River valley from colonial times to the mid-twentieth century, when, he argues, it ceased to thrive as a living tradition. Anderson provides a solid scholarly foundation for future work by systematizing the extant information on a religion that has long captured the popular imagination as it has simultaneously engendered fear and ridicule. His book stands as the most complete study of the faith yet produced and rests on more than two decades of research, utilizing primary source material alongside the author’s own field studies in New Orleans, Haiti, Cuba, Senegal, Benin, Togo, and the Republic of Congo. The result serves as an enduring resource on Mississippi River valley Voodoo, Louisiana, and the greater African Diaspora.

Reading While Black

Reading While Black
Author: Esau McCaulley
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830854878

Reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition can help us connect with a rich faith history and address the urgent issues of our times. Demonstrating an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley shares a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.

The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation

The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation
Author: Keith Beasley-Topliffe
Publisher: Upper Room Books
Total Pages: 754
Release: 2017-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0835816303

This reference book, compiled with the help of more than 50 scholars from many denominations, provides a basic guide to Christian spiritual formation through more than 470 entries. It covers such subjects as great spiritual teachers of the past and present, important topics in Christian spirituality, and ways to pray and lead groups in prayer and spiritual growth. Containing enough information to get you started but not so many details as to overwhelm, the entries in this dictionary answer such questions as: What is spiritual formation? What is grace? How does it help me grow? What is centering prayer? How do I do it? Who is Hildegard of Bingen? What did she write? How can I grow in forgiveness? What are Fowler's stages of faith? What are other ways of talking about stages of spiritual growth? This dictionary also includes a chart that compares various Christian spiritual traditions, plus a list of significant spiritual classics by title and author.

Soul Care in African American Practice

Soul Care in African American Practice
Author: Barbara L. Peacock
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830848207

Spiritual director and pastor Barbara Peacock illustrates how the practices of spiritual formation are woven into African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using the examples of ten significant men and women, Barbara helps us engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders.

Italian American Pentecostalism and the Struggle for Religious Identity

Italian American Pentecostalism and the Struggle for Religious Identity
Author: Paul J. Palma
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2019-07-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429581424

While many established forms of Christianity have seen significant decline in recent decades, Pentecostals are currently one of the fastest growing religious groups across the world. This book examines the roots, inception, and expansion of Pentecostalism among Italian Americans to demonstrate how Pentecostalism moves so freely through widely varying cultures. The book begins with a survey of the origins and early shaping forces of Italian American Pentecostalism. It charts its birth among immigrants in Chicago as well as the initial expansion fuelled by the convergence of folk-Catholic, Reformed evangelical, and Holiness sources. The book goes on to explain how internal and external pressures demanded structure, leading to the founding of the Christian Church of North America in 1927. Paralleling this development was the emergence of the Italian District of the Assemblies of God, the Assemblee di Dio in Italia (Assemblies of God in Italy), the Canadian Assemblies of God, and formidable denominations in Brazil and Argentina. In the closing chapters, based on analysis of key theological loci and in lieu of contemporary developments, the future prospects of the movement are laid out and assessed. This book provides a purview into the religious lives of an underexamined, but culturally significant group in America. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Pentecostalism, Religious Studies and Religious History, as well as Migrations Studies and Cultural Studies in America

Networking the Black Church

Networking the Black Church
Author: Erika D. Gault
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1479805866

Provides a timely portrait of young Black Christians and how digital technology is transforming the Black Church They stand at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, push the boundaries of the Black Church through online expression of Christian hip hop, and redefine what it means to be young, Black, and Christian in America. Young Black adults represent the future of African American religiosity, yet little is known regarding their religious lives beyond the Black Church. Networking the Black Church explores how deeply embedded digital technology is in the lives of young Black Christians, offering a first-of-its-kind digital-hip hop ethnography. Erika D. Gault argues that a new religious ethos has emerged among young adult Blacks in America. To understand Black Christianity today it is not enough to look at the traditional Black Church. The Black Church is itself being changed by what she calls digital Black Christians. The volume examines the ways in which Christian hip hop artists who have adopted Black-preaching-inspired spoken word performances create alternate kinds of Christian communities both inside and outside the walls of traditional Black churches. Framed around interviews with prominent Black Christian hip hop artists, it explores the multiple ways that digital Black Christians construct religious identity and meaning through video-sharing and social media. In the process, these digital Black Christians are changing Black churches as institutions, transforming modes of religious activism, inventing new communication practices around evangelism and Christian identity, and streamlining the accessibility of Black Church cultural practices in popular culture. Erika D. Gault provides a fascinating portrait of young Black faith, illuminating how the relationship between religion and digital media is changing the lived experiences of a new generation of Black Christians.

Being Spiritual but Not Religious

Being Spiritual but Not Religious
Author: William B. Parsons
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351607057

In its most general sense, the term "Spiritual but Not Religious" denotes those who, on the one hand, are disillusioned with traditional institutional religion and, on the other hand, feel that those same traditions contain deep wisdom about the human condition. This edited collection speaks to what national surveys agree is a growing social phenomenon referred to as the "Spiritual but Not Religious Movement" (SBNRM). Each essay of the volume engages the past, present and future(s) of the SBNRM. Their collective contribution is analytic, descriptive, and prescriptive, taking stock of not only the various analyses of the SBNRM to date but also the establishment of a new ground upon which the continued academic discussion can take place. This volume is a watershed in the growing academic and public interest in the SBNRM. As such, it will vital reading for any academic involved in Religious Studies, Spirituality and Sociology.