Amos Yong and Estrelda Y. Alexander (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-à-vis other branches of ...
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In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-à-vis other branches of Pentecostalism but also throughout the Christian church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement since its inception and have made significant contributions to its founding as well as the evolution of Pentecostal/charismatic styles of worship, preaching, music, engagement of social issues, and theology. Yet despite its being one of the fastest growing segments of the Black Church, Afro-Pentecostalism has not received the kind of critical attention it deserves. This book examines different facets of the movement, including its early history, issues of gender, relations with other black denominations, intersections with popular culture, and missionary activities, as well as the movement's distinctive theology. The chapters reflect on the state of the movement, chart its trajectories, discuss pertinent issues, and anticipate future developments.Less
In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-à-vis other branches of Pentecostalism but also throughout the Christian church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement since its inception and have made significant contributions to its founding as well as the evolution of Pentecostal/charismatic styles of worship, preaching, music, engagement of social issues, and theology. Yet despite its being one of the fastest growing segments of the Black Church, Afro-Pentecostalism has not received the kind of critical attention it deserves. This book examines different facets of the movement, including its early history, issues of gender, relations with other black denominations, intersections with popular culture, and missionary activities, as well as the movement's distinctive theology. The chapters reflect on the state of the movement, chart its trajectories, discuss pertinent issues, and anticipate future developments.
Estrelda Y. Alexander and Amos Yong
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book explores how adherents of African American Pentecostalism have adapted strategies to deal with issues of culture, race, gender, sexuality, economics, and politics while formulating ...
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This book explores how adherents of African American Pentecostalism have adapted strategies to deal with issues of culture, race, gender, sexuality, economics, and politics while formulating discursive practices of worship and spirituality consistent with their self-identities and ethical and ideological commitments. Part I of the book examines how Afro-Pentecostalism emerged out of the antecedent Holiness movement to become a movement of global proportions. Part II focuses on Pentecostalism and its antecedent Holiness movement through the lens of gender and sexuality. Part III addresses ethical concerns that black Pentecostal culture and spirituality raise within contemporary American society. Part IV discusses Pentecostal approaches to the task of theology, with particular emphasis on pneumatology and eschatology. Part V analyzes the historical connection between African American Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, as well as the phenomenal growth of Pentecostal spirituality throughout the Two-Thirds World.Less
This book explores how adherents of African American Pentecostalism have adapted strategies to deal with issues of culture, race, gender, sexuality, economics, and politics while formulating discursive practices of worship and spirituality consistent with their self-identities and ethical and ideological commitments. Part I of the book examines how Afro-Pentecostalism emerged out of the antecedent Holiness movement to become a movement of global proportions. Part II focuses on Pentecostalism and its antecedent Holiness movement through the lens of gender and sexuality. Part III addresses ethical concerns that black Pentecostal culture and spirituality raise within contemporary American society. Part IV discusses Pentecostal approaches to the task of theology, with particular emphasis on pneumatology and eschatology. Part V analyzes the historical connection between African American Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, as well as the phenomenal growth of Pentecostal spirituality throughout the Two-Thirds World.
David D. Daniels III
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the ways in which Afro-Pentecostalism engaged black civil society, from from the advent of the movement in 1906 to the inauguration of the Second Great Migration in 1942, within ...
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This chapter examines the ways in which Afro-Pentecostalism engaged black civil society, from from the advent of the movement in 1906 to the inauguration of the Second Great Migration in 1942, within the religious context crafted by the five major black denominations. It begins with an overview of concepts of civil society as well as early Afro-Pentecostalism and goes on to discuss how major sectors within early Afro-Pentecostalism utilized formal means to participate in the construction of black civil society. It then considers how early Afro-Pentecostalism interacted with a network of three primary entities—church, school, and lodge—while contesting alliances between the black church and electoral politics as well as the black church and the white establishment. It also explores the content of early Afro-Pentecostalism's civil engagement of dominant social systems within U.S. society, namely, patriotism, patriarchy, and racial segregation.Less
This chapter examines the ways in which Afro-Pentecostalism engaged black civil society, from from the advent of the movement in 1906 to the inauguration of the Second Great Migration in 1942, within the religious context crafted by the five major black denominations. It begins with an overview of concepts of civil society as well as early Afro-Pentecostalism and goes on to discuss how major sectors within early Afro-Pentecostalism utilized formal means to participate in the construction of black civil society. It then considers how early Afro-Pentecostalism interacted with a network of three primary entities—church, school, and lodge—while contesting alliances between the black church and electoral politics as well as the black church and the white establishment. It also explores the content of early Afro-Pentecostalism's civil engagement of dominant social systems within U.S. society, namely, patriotism, patriarchy, and racial segregation.
Valerie C. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter focuses on two movements that unfolded, American Evangelicalism and Wesleyan Holiness, and how changing understandings of women's appropriate place in public life laid the foundations ...
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This chapter focuses on two movements that unfolded, American Evangelicalism and Wesleyan Holiness, and how changing understandings of women's appropriate place in public life laid the foundations for the Azusa Street Mission. It considers how nineteenth-century, black Evangelical women contributed to the establishment of the largely egalitarian ethos of early Afro-Pentecostalism by bringing to their involvement in Azusa changing expectations about their roles in public ministry and public life, biblically based arguments for women's religious leadership, a developing pneumatology, and eschatological expectancy. It also considers how black women's views about public activism and theology influenced the dynamic sociological and historical factors that produced Azusa Street.Less
This chapter focuses on two movements that unfolded, American Evangelicalism and Wesleyan Holiness, and how changing understandings of women's appropriate place in public life laid the foundations for the Azusa Street Mission. It considers how nineteenth-century, black Evangelical women contributed to the establishment of the largely egalitarian ethos of early Afro-Pentecostalism by bringing to their involvement in Azusa changing expectations about their roles in public ministry and public life, biblically based arguments for women's religious leadership, a developing pneumatology, and eschatological expectancy. It also considers how black women's views about public activism and theology influenced the dynamic sociological and historical factors that produced Azusa Street.
Clarence E. Hardy III
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the role of black Pentecostal women leaders in the evolution of Afro-Pentecostalism into an urban religion from its beginnings in the Mississippi Delta and upper South. Drawing ...
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This chapter explores the role of black Pentecostal women leaders in the evolution of Afro-Pentecostalism into an urban religion from its beginnings in the Mississippi Delta and upper South. Drawing on the work of early religionist Arthur Fauset, it considers the place of Pentecostals in the history of black religious culture in the modern era. More specifically, it examines how the so-called church mothers such as Rosa Horn, Lucy Smith, Mary Magdalena Tate, and Ida Robinson built regional empires of faith, often with themselves at the center of power. These women eschewed the categories immediately available to them while establishing new religious communities that provided alternative conceptions and creative forms of discourse about religious experience and the divine. They also reshaped fading concepts of Victorian respectability and reimagined new possibilities for religious leadership. In remaking the “politics of respectability,” these women replaced discourse about the (black) nation with the physical body as the principal site to imagine the divine and shifted to a religious modernism better suited to the demands of twentieth-century black urban life.Less
This chapter explores the role of black Pentecostal women leaders in the evolution of Afro-Pentecostalism into an urban religion from its beginnings in the Mississippi Delta and upper South. Drawing on the work of early religionist Arthur Fauset, it considers the place of Pentecostals in the history of black religious culture in the modern era. More specifically, it examines how the so-called church mothers such as Rosa Horn, Lucy Smith, Mary Magdalena Tate, and Ida Robinson built regional empires of faith, often with themselves at the center of power. These women eschewed the categories immediately available to them while establishing new religious communities that provided alternative conceptions and creative forms of discourse about religious experience and the divine. They also reshaped fading concepts of Victorian respectability and reimagined new possibilities for religious leadership. In remaking the “politics of respectability,” these women replaced discourse about the (black) nation with the physical body as the principal site to imagine the divine and shifted to a religious modernism better suited to the demands of twentieth-century black urban life.
Craig Scandrett-Leatherman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines how Charles Harrison Mason (1866–1961), the founder of the largest Afro-Pentecostal church, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), resisted the dehumanizing effects of lynching ...
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This chapter examines how Charles Harrison Mason (1866–1961), the founder of the largest Afro-Pentecostal church, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), resisted the dehumanizing effects of lynching through dance and spirituality. It shows how the Afro-Pentecostal tradition, as signaled and initiated by COGIC, developed in part as a black ritual system of liberation in response to the white ritual system of lynching. It suggests that Mason attempted to ameliorate the emasculation of black men and the disempowerment of the black community by strategically developing rituals of revision that helped black men resist dehumanization while reinvigorating their identity and lives through their own rituals. The chapter demonstrates how Afro-Pentecostalism's conscientious objection and dance both expand the conversation about the rites of lynching and the rights of black manhood.Less
This chapter examines how Charles Harrison Mason (1866–1961), the founder of the largest Afro-Pentecostal church, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), resisted the dehumanizing effects of lynching through dance and spirituality. It shows how the Afro-Pentecostal tradition, as signaled and initiated by COGIC, developed in part as a black ritual system of liberation in response to the white ritual system of lynching. It suggests that Mason attempted to ameliorate the emasculation of black men and the disempowerment of the black community by strategically developing rituals of revision that helped black men resist dehumanization while reinvigorating their identity and lives through their own rituals. The chapter demonstrates how Afro-Pentecostalism's conscientious objection and dance both expand the conversation about the rites of lynching and the rights of black manhood.
Louis B. Gallien
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the Pentecostal foundations of three African American male “crossover” artists with deep roots in Afro-Pentecostalism: Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Donny Hathaway. It relates the ...
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This chapter examines the Pentecostal foundations of three African American male “crossover” artists with deep roots in Afro-Pentecostalism: Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Donny Hathaway. It relates the experience of these singer-songwriters' crossover from gospel music to secular music, and specifically rhythm and blues. It also considers their struggle to reconcile their religious backgrounds and gospel music genesis with their desires to maintain successful secular careers. Using the experiences of these three music icons, the chapter sheds light on the complicated themes of sexuality and spirituality within the black Pentecostal movement. It shows how Cooke, Gaye, and Hathaway helped close the discourse regarding the chasm between secular and sacred music, especially as African Americans understood and experienced the marketability and commercial success of their musical heritages.Less
This chapter examines the Pentecostal foundations of three African American male “crossover” artists with deep roots in Afro-Pentecostalism: Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Donny Hathaway. It relates the experience of these singer-songwriters' crossover from gospel music to secular music, and specifically rhythm and blues. It also considers their struggle to reconcile their religious backgrounds and gospel music genesis with their desires to maintain successful secular careers. Using the experiences of these three music icons, the chapter sheds light on the complicated themes of sexuality and spirituality within the black Pentecostal movement. It shows how Cooke, Gaye, and Hathaway helped close the discourse regarding the chasm between secular and sacred music, especially as African Americans understood and experienced the marketability and commercial success of their musical heritages.
Cheryl J. Sanders
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the ethical, political, and ecclesiological significance of Pentecostal preaching, with particular emphasis on two perceived polarities: the prosperity gospel and the social ...
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This chapter examines the ethical, political, and ecclesiological significance of Pentecostal preaching, with particular emphasis on two perceived polarities: the prosperity gospel and the social gospel. It considers the role of ethics in Afro-Pentecostal preaching's embrace and promotion of the prosperity gospel and whether pastors who nurture their flocks with this message have neglected the social ethical message of the biblical prophets as advocates for the rights of the poor. It also discusses the issue of televangelism and the influence of the televised propagation of the prosperity gospel on Afro-Pentecostalism's biblical mandate to observe and oppose the ongoing systemic manifestations of poverty and disenfranchisement within African American communities. Finally, it notes the resurgence of prophetic activism among some black Pentecostal pastors, ministers, and community leaders who have adapted a more effective, liberal form of social ethics while maintaining their theological conservatism.Less
This chapter examines the ethical, political, and ecclesiological significance of Pentecostal preaching, with particular emphasis on two perceived polarities: the prosperity gospel and the social gospel. It considers the role of ethics in Afro-Pentecostal preaching's embrace and promotion of the prosperity gospel and whether pastors who nurture their flocks with this message have neglected the social ethical message of the biblical prophets as advocates for the rights of the poor. It also discusses the issue of televangelism and the influence of the televised propagation of the prosperity gospel on Afro-Pentecostalism's biblical mandate to observe and oppose the ongoing systemic manifestations of poverty and disenfranchisement within African American communities. Finally, it notes the resurgence of prophetic activism among some black Pentecostal pastors, ministers, and community leaders who have adapted a more effective, liberal form of social ethics while maintaining their theological conservatism.
Leonard Lovett
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In this chapter, the author uses the narrative mode of autobiography to reflect on theology and ethics by looking back over his long career as a Pentecostal scholar, churchman, and social activist. ...
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In this chapter, the author uses the narrative mode of autobiography to reflect on theology and ethics by looking back over his long career as a Pentecostal scholar, churchman, and social activist. In particular, the author describes the dilemmas and challenges that he has experienced as an Afro-centric Pentecostal theologian-ethicist, as well as the conflict with colleagues who embrace other perspectives. After discussing the civil rights background of Afro-Pentecostal radicalism, he provides insight into the racial dynamics within the Pentecostal academy that have mirrored concerns found in other segments of Afro-Pentecostalism. He also considers how some Afro-Pentecostal scholars were able to help frame a response to the racism they encountered within the movement. Finally, he suggests the need to confront questions regarding the racial injustice still visible within the Pentecostal church and academy.Less
In this chapter, the author uses the narrative mode of autobiography to reflect on theology and ethics by looking back over his long career as a Pentecostal scholar, churchman, and social activist. In particular, the author describes the dilemmas and challenges that he has experienced as an Afro-centric Pentecostal theologian-ethicist, as well as the conflict with colleagues who embrace other perspectives. After discussing the civil rights background of Afro-Pentecostal radicalism, he provides insight into the racial dynamics within the Pentecostal academy that have mirrored concerns found in other segments of Afro-Pentecostalism. He also considers how some Afro-Pentecostal scholars were able to help frame a response to the racism they encountered within the movement. Finally, he suggests the need to confront questions regarding the racial injustice still visible within the Pentecostal church and academy.
William C. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814797303
- eISBN:
- 9780814789070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814797303.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores pneumatology in relation to liberation theology within the context of the Pentecostalism. It first considers the emergence of pneumatology in black theology before discussing ...
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This chapter explores pneumatology in relation to liberation theology within the context of the Pentecostalism. It first considers the emergence of pneumatology in black theology before discussing the gap between the African American Church's worship, service, prophetic-liberative social consciousness, and the underdevelopment of pneumatology in major scholarly projects. It then stresses the importance of a critical pneumatological discourse for renewing the Spirit within Afro-Pentecostalism. In particular, it calls for a pneumatology that moves the locus of discussion from narrow sectarian interests to those of the worldwide Christian communion. It suggests that serious theological reflection on and re-working of major themes within Afro-Pentecostal Christianity can not only enrich the Pentecostal tradition but also allow those within the movement to make contributions, which can benefit the broader church.Less
This chapter explores pneumatology in relation to liberation theology within the context of the Pentecostalism. It first considers the emergence of pneumatology in black theology before discussing the gap between the African American Church's worship, service, prophetic-liberative social consciousness, and the underdevelopment of pneumatology in major scholarly projects. It then stresses the importance of a critical pneumatological discourse for renewing the Spirit within Afro-Pentecostalism. In particular, it calls for a pneumatology that moves the locus of discussion from narrow sectarian interests to those of the worldwide Christian communion. It suggests that serious theological reflection on and re-working of major themes within Afro-Pentecostal Christianity can not only enrich the Pentecostal tradition but also allow those within the movement to make contributions, which can benefit the broader church.
