Curtis J. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328189
- eISBN:
- 9780199870028
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328189.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of ...
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This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of African American religion placed an enormous burden on black religious capacities as the source for black contributions to American culture until the 1940s. Attention to black religion as the chief bearer of meaning for black life was also a result of longstanding debates about what constituted the “human person” and an implicit assertion of the intellectual inferiority of peoples of African descent. Intellectual and religious capacities were reshaped and reconceptualized in various crucial historical moments in American history because of real world debates about blacks' place in the nation and continuing discussions about what it meant to be fully human. Only within the last half century has this older paradigm of black religion (and the concomitant assumption of a genetic deficiency in “intelligence”) been challenged with any degree of cultural authority. Black innate religiosity had to be denied before sufficient attention could be paid to actual proposals about black equal participation in the nation, though this should not be interpreted as a call for insufficient attention to the role of religion in the lives of African Americans and other ethnic groups.Less
This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of African American religion placed an enormous burden on black religious capacities as the source for black contributions to American culture until the 1940s. Attention to black religion as the chief bearer of meaning for black life was also a result of longstanding debates about what constituted the “human person” and an implicit assertion of the intellectual inferiority of peoples of African descent. Intellectual and religious capacities were reshaped and reconceptualized in various crucial historical moments in American history because of real world debates about blacks' place in the nation and continuing discussions about what it meant to be fully human. Only within the last half century has this older paradigm of black religion (and the concomitant assumption of a genetic deficiency in “intelligence”) been challenged with any degree of cultural authority. Black innate religiosity had to be denied before sufficient attention could be paid to actual proposals about black equal participation in the nation, though this should not be interpreted as a call for insufficient attention to the role of religion in the lives of African Americans and other ethnic groups.
Peter R. Gathje
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter discusses two strategies that have proven to be helpful in building trust and creating a transformative understanding of African American religions in relation to resistance to racism. ...
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This chapter discusses two strategies that have proven to be helpful in building trust and creating a transformative understanding of African American religions in relation to resistance to racism. The first strategy helps students to see diversity within African American religion (and thus also the African American experience) by providing methods for analysing arguments, persons, and events from the history of African American religions. The second strategy helps students see how their own experiences and perspectives on racism are related to racism in the United States. Used together, these strategies can empower students in their analysis of racism and the variety of ways African American religions have resisted racism. This, in turn, may help students to consider their own relationship to racism and their resistance to it.Less
This chapter discusses two strategies that have proven to be helpful in building trust and creating a transformative understanding of African American religions in relation to resistance to racism. The first strategy helps students to see diversity within African American religion (and thus also the African American experience) by providing methods for analysing arguments, persons, and events from the history of African American religions. The second strategy helps students see how their own experiences and perspectives on racism are related to racism in the United States. Used together, these strategies can empower students in their analysis of racism and the variety of ways African American religions have resisted racism. This, in turn, may help students to consider their own relationship to racism and their resistance to it.
Melanie Jane Wright
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195152265
- eISBN:
- 9780199834884
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195152263.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book is about the representation of Moses and the Exodus narrative in three North American texts: Moses in Red by Lincoln Steffens; Moses, Man of the Mountain (1926), by Zora Neale Hurston ...
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This book is about the representation of Moses and the Exodus narrative in three North American texts: Moses in Red by Lincoln Steffens; Moses, Man of the Mountain (1926), by Zora Neale Hurston (1939), and Cecil B. DeMille's film, The Ten Commandments (1956). It does not seek to judge the merits of these works, but rather to ask why and how they recast the biblical narrative as they did, and how their images of Moses were received. The study holds in tension the roles of producers and consumers, valuing both as interpreters and creators of the Moses story.Drawing on insights from cultural studies the books and the film are located in the “religious” contexts of their day (e.g., in relation to changing attitudes to biblical interpretation and authority, and to popular movements within American religion) and in broader political frameworks (e.g., in relation to conflicts like the Cold War, or vis‐a‐vis ethnic or gender issues). In examining Steffens's, Hurston's and DeMille's Moses images, this book lays bare the dynamics involved in the afterlife of a figure who remains central to the identity of American civilization. It also argues that the scope of biblical studies should develop to embrace more fully, the critical study of popular culture and the ways in which “ordinary people” think about the Bible.Less
This book is about the representation of Moses and the Exodus narrative in three North American texts: Moses in Red by Lincoln Steffens; Moses, Man of the Mountain (1926), by Zora Neale Hurston (1939), and Cecil B. DeMille's film, The Ten Commandments (1956). It does not seek to judge the merits of these works, but rather to ask why and how they recast the biblical narrative as they did, and how their images of Moses were received. The study holds in tension the roles of producers and consumers, valuing both as interpreters and creators of the Moses story.
Drawing on insights from cultural studies the books and the film are located in the “religious” contexts of their day (e.g., in relation to changing attitudes to biblical interpretation and authority, and to popular movements within American religion) and in broader political frameworks (e.g., in relation to conflicts like the Cold War, or vis‐a‐vis ethnic or gender issues). In examining Steffens's, Hurston's and DeMille's Moses images, this book lays bare the dynamics involved in the afterlife of a figure who remains central to the identity of American civilization. It also argues that the scope of biblical studies should develop to embrace more fully, the critical study of popular culture and the ways in which “ordinary people” think about the Bible.
Carolyn M. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
In a course like African American religion, the classroom is a “contact zone”, a term used by Mary Louise Pratt. To illustrate the difficulties in dealing with the contact zone, this chapter ...
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In a course like African American religion, the classroom is a “contact zone”, a term used by Mary Louise Pratt. To illustrate the difficulties in dealing with the contact zone, this chapter describes an African American Religion course recently taught by the author of this book. It then looks at the issues involved when a classroom becomes a contact zone. The chapter then discusses the use of David Remnick's biography of Muhammed Ali, King of the World, and America in the Civil Rights era for understanding the significance of the Nation of Islam. Finally, building on the spiritual journey of Muhammed Ali, the central issue in teaching religion, transformation, whether it is African American Religion or not, is considered.Less
In a course like African American religion, the classroom is a “contact zone”, a term used by Mary Louise Pratt. To illustrate the difficulties in dealing with the contact zone, this chapter describes an African American Religion course recently taught by the author of this book. It then looks at the issues involved when a classroom becomes a contact zone. The chapter then discusses the use of David Remnick's biography of Muhammed Ali, King of the World, and America in the Civil Rights era for understanding the significance of the Nation of Islam. Finally, building on the spiritual journey of Muhammed Ali, the central issue in teaching religion, transformation, whether it is African American Religion or not, is considered.
Daphne C. Wiggins
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
African American Christianity can be used to engage the questions of social practice and theology. From a variety of sources, the Black Church has constructed practices that counter and subdue ...
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African American Christianity can be used to engage the questions of social practice and theology. From a variety of sources, the Black Church has constructed practices that counter and subdue oppressive forces felt by African Americans while simultaneously establishing a context for a more abundant life. This chapter presents a model for teaching those contexts. It presents the rationale and several of the strategies used in the course, “The Social Contexts of the Black Church”. The course requires students to ground their ministerial vision in a dialectical understanding of the Black Church. Moving between the contemporary interdisciplinary interpretation of the sociocultural contexts of African Americans and the history and established theological teachings of the Black Church, an approach is presented that equips theological students to construct a ministerial direction and praxis.Less
African American Christianity can be used to engage the questions of social practice and theology. From a variety of sources, the Black Church has constructed practices that counter and subdue oppressive forces felt by African Americans while simultaneously establishing a context for a more abundant life. This chapter presents a model for teaching those contexts. It presents the rationale and several of the strategies used in the course, “The Social Contexts of the Black Church”. The course requires students to ground their ministerial vision in a dialectical understanding of the Black Church. Moving between the contemporary interdisciplinary interpretation of the sociocultural contexts of African Americans and the history and established theological teachings of the Black Church, an approach is presented that equips theological students to construct a ministerial direction and praxis.
Edwin David Aponte
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter explores some pedagogical challenges, responses to, and strategies for the inclusion of African and African American cultural perspectives into the required core curriculum courses at a ...
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This chapter explores some pedagogical challenges, responses to, and strategies for the inclusion of African and African American cultural perspectives into the required core curriculum courses at a graduate theological seminary. This chapter represents the author's longstanding personal interest in African and African American religions and cultures — an interest that was deepened through participation in the workshop “Mining the Motherlode of African American Religious Life”. This personal commitment is used to develop seminary courses that draw on African American religious life. In the teaching context, part of the challenge of rethinking the core curriculum lies in the particular nature of theological education.Less
This chapter explores some pedagogical challenges, responses to, and strategies for the inclusion of African and African American cultural perspectives into the required core curriculum courses at a graduate theological seminary. This chapter represents the author's longstanding personal interest in African and African American religions and cultures — an interest that was deepened through participation in the workshop “Mining the Motherlode of African American Religious Life”. This personal commitment is used to develop seminary courses that draw on African American religious life. In the teaching context, part of the challenge of rethinking the core curriculum lies in the particular nature of theological education.
Dan P. McAdams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176933
- eISBN:
- 9780199786787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176933.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Drawing from empirical research on the psychology and sociology of religion and from historical analyses of American religious life, this chapter describes how religiosity among Americans is ...
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Drawing from empirical research on the psychology and sociology of religion and from historical analyses of American religious life, this chapter describes how religiosity among Americans is positively associated with physical health, psychological well-being, and generativity. Case studies of moral exemplars and empirical research on the life narrative and generativity, strongly suggest that highly generative American adults often draw upon religious traditions to articulate their redemptive stories of self. The chapter also considers how Americans have reacted to the narrative challenge of reconciling within their own redemptive life stories their devout religious sentiments on the one hand, and the drive for money and material gain on the other.Less
Drawing from empirical research on the psychology and sociology of religion and from historical analyses of American religious life, this chapter describes how religiosity among Americans is positively associated with physical health, psychological well-being, and generativity. Case studies of moral exemplars and empirical research on the life narrative and generativity, strongly suggest that highly generative American adults often draw upon religious traditions to articulate their redemptive stories of self. The chapter also considers how Americans have reacted to the narrative challenge of reconciling within their own redemptive life stories their devout religious sentiments on the one hand, and the drive for money and material gain on the other.
Jonathon S. Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307894
- eISBN:
- 9780199867516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307894.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter begins by introducing the heterodox nature of Du Bois's religious voice. Against David Levering Lewis, it argues that despite Du Bois's hostile comments against religion, Du Bois also ...
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This chapter begins by introducing the heterodox nature of Du Bois's religious voice. Against David Levering Lewis, it argues that despite Du Bois's hostile comments against religion, Du Bois also speaks with a deeply religious register. Du Bois turns his discontent with religion and its affects on American democracy into a religious faith of his own making. The chapter presents five theses on Du Bois's religious imagination, which work to claim Du Bois as an African American pragmatic religious naturalist.Less
This chapter begins by introducing the heterodox nature of Du Bois's religious voice. Against David Levering Lewis, it argues that despite Du Bois's hostile comments against religion, Du Bois also speaks with a deeply religious register. Du Bois turns his discontent with religion and its affects on American democracy into a religious faith of his own making. The chapter presents five theses on Du Bois's religious imagination, which work to claim Du Bois as an African American pragmatic religious naturalist.
Heather A. Haveman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164403
- eISBN:
- 9781400873883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164403.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter examines the interplay between magazines and religion, with emphasis on how the growing number and variety of magazines supported and channeled community building in America—including ...
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This chapter examines the interplay between magazines and religion, with emphasis on how the growing number and variety of magazines supported and channeled community building in America—including the translocal communities that were a big part of the modernization of American society. It first considers how American religion evolved during the period 1740–1860, citing in particular the rise of national religious organizations. It then explores the relationship between religious events and institutions, on the one hand, and religious magazines on the other. It also describes the fragmentation of American churches in disputes over theology and politics and concludes by explaining how the proliferation of religious magazines affected the rest of the magazine industry.Less
This chapter examines the interplay between magazines and religion, with emphasis on how the growing number and variety of magazines supported and channeled community building in America—including the translocal communities that were a big part of the modernization of American society. It first considers how American religion evolved during the period 1740–1860, citing in particular the rise of national religious organizations. It then explores the relationship between religious events and institutions, on the one hand, and religious magazines on the other. It also describes the fragmentation of American churches in disputes over theology and politics and concludes by explaining how the proliferation of religious magazines affected the rest of the magazine industry.
John M. Giggie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304039
- eISBN:
- 9780199866885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304039.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
The introduction argues that a study of black religion in the Delta in the post‐Reconstruction era promises to introduce new theoretical perspectives to three overlapping academic disciplines: ...
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The introduction argues that a study of black religion in the Delta in the post‐Reconstruction era promises to introduce new theoretical perspectives to three overlapping academic disciplines: American religious history, African American history, and southern history. It offers a working definition of American religion that integrates popular, church, and racial history; a sense of black history in which the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries represent a time of profound cultural experimentation that belie its label as the nadir of African American cultural accomplishment; and a view of southern history in which the religion of rural poorer blacks emerges as a rich and varied source of protest to segregation.Less
The introduction argues that a study of black religion in the Delta in the post‐Reconstruction era promises to introduce new theoretical perspectives to three overlapping academic disciplines: American religious history, African American history, and southern history. It offers a working definition of American religion that integrates popular, church, and racial history; a sense of black history in which the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries represent a time of profound cultural experimentation that belie its label as the nadir of African American cultural accomplishment; and a view of southern history in which the religion of rural poorer blacks emerges as a rich and varied source of protest to segregation.
Judith Weisenfeld
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195149180
- eISBN:
- 9780199835386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195149181.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter discusses approaches to the co-construction of religion and race in Hollywood films focusing on the case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1929 film Hallelujah. Directed by King Vidor, the film ...
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This chapter discusses approaches to the co-construction of religion and race in Hollywood films focusing on the case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1929 film Hallelujah. Directed by King Vidor, the film extended popular culture and literary traditions of naturalizing and sanctioning American racial hierarchies through the presentation of an aesthetic of primitive black religion. The chapter examines the production history and reception of the film with attention to discourses about race, religion, and representation, as well as about the relationship between African-American religious practices and civil rights more broadly.Less
This chapter discusses approaches to the co-construction of religion and race in Hollywood films focusing on the case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1929 film Hallelujah. Directed by King Vidor, the film extended popular culture and literary traditions of naturalizing and sanctioning American racial hierarchies through the presentation of an aesthetic of primitive black religion. The chapter examines the production history and reception of the film with attention to discourses about race, religion, and representation, as well as about the relationship between African-American religious practices and civil rights more broadly.
Mark Chaves
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691146850
- eISBN:
- 9781400839957
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691146850.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Most Americans say they believe in God, and more than a third say they attend religious services every week. Yet studies show that people do not really go to church as often as they claim, and it is ...
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Most Americans say they believe in God, and more than a third say they attend religious services every week. Yet studies show that people do not really go to church as often as they claim, and it is not always clear what they mean when they tell pollsters they believe in God or pray. This book presents up-to-date information about religious trends in the United States, in a succinct and accessible manner. The book provides essential information about key developments in American religion since 1972, and is the first major resource of its kind to appear in more than two decades. The book looks at trends in diversity, belief, involvement, congregational life, leadership, liberal Protestant decline, and polarization. It draws on two important surveys: the General Social Survey, an ongoing survey of Americans' changing attitudes and behaviors, begun in 1972; and the National Congregations Study, a survey of American religious congregations across the religious spectrum. The book finds that American religious life has seen much continuity in recent decades, but also much change. It challenges the popular notion that religion is witnessing a resurgence in the United States—in fact, traditional belief and practice is either stable or declining. The book examines why the decline in liberal Protestant denominations has been accompanied by the spread of liberal Protestant attitudes about religious and social tolerance, how confidence in religious institutions has declined more than confidence in secular institutions, and a host of other crucial trends.Less
Most Americans say they believe in God, and more than a third say they attend religious services every week. Yet studies show that people do not really go to church as often as they claim, and it is not always clear what they mean when they tell pollsters they believe in God or pray. This book presents up-to-date information about religious trends in the United States, in a succinct and accessible manner. The book provides essential information about key developments in American religion since 1972, and is the first major resource of its kind to appear in more than two decades. The book looks at trends in diversity, belief, involvement, congregational life, leadership, liberal Protestant decline, and polarization. It draws on two important surveys: the General Social Survey, an ongoing survey of Americans' changing attitudes and behaviors, begun in 1972; and the National Congregations Study, a survey of American religious congregations across the religious spectrum. The book finds that American religious life has seen much continuity in recent decades, but also much change. It challenges the popular notion that religion is witnessing a resurgence in the United States—in fact, traditional belief and practice is either stable or declining. The book examines why the decline in liberal Protestant denominations has been accompanied by the spread of liberal Protestant attitudes about religious and social tolerance, how confidence in religious institutions has declined more than confidence in secular institutions, and a host of other crucial trends.
Anthony B. Pinn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195340822
- eISBN:
- 9780199932344
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340822.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Rejecting the assumption of theism as the African American orientation, and in response to a central question—What is the look of a nontheistic theology?—Pinn provides the first systematic African ...
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Rejecting the assumption of theism as the African American orientation, and in response to a central question—What is the look of a nontheistic theology?—Pinn provides the first systematic African American nontheistic theology. It expands the range of theological resources to include more of the mundane materials generally overlooked in African American theology. Through an appreciation of a complex sense of community that extends beyond a simple location of the like-minded, The End of God-Talk offers a new center for theological inquiry and ties this to a sense of the human much more scientifically grounded than the imago Dei ideas that dominate African American theistic theologies. Pinn explores the importance of symmetry as a new marker of meaning, one that rejects traditional notions of salvation—even those posed by the more materially grounded liberation theologies. Furthermore, Pinn proposes a turn to Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Walker as a way of forging a sense of ethical conduct consistent with African American nontheistic humanism. The book ends with an exploration of the religious significance of ordinary spaces and activities as the locations for humanist theological engagement. Through a turn to embodied human life as the proper arena for and content of theologizing, Pinn's book opens a new theological path with important implications for ongoing work in African American religious studies.Less
Rejecting the assumption of theism as the African American orientation, and in response to a central question—What is the look of a nontheistic theology?—Pinn provides the first systematic African American nontheistic theology. It expands the range of theological resources to include more of the mundane materials generally overlooked in African American theology. Through an appreciation of a complex sense of community that extends beyond a simple location of the like-minded, The End of God-Talk offers a new center for theological inquiry and ties this to a sense of the human much more scientifically grounded than the imago Dei ideas that dominate African American theistic theologies. Pinn explores the importance of symmetry as a new marker of meaning, one that rejects traditional notions of salvation—even those posed by the more materially grounded liberation theologies. Furthermore, Pinn proposes a turn to Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Walker as a way of forging a sense of ethical conduct consistent with African American nontheistic humanism. The book ends with an exploration of the religious significance of ordinary spaces and activities as the locations for humanist theological engagement. Through a turn to embodied human life as the proper arena for and content of theologizing, Pinn's book opens a new theological path with important implications for ongoing work in African American religious studies.
Robert Wuthnow
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159898
- eISBN:
- 9781400852116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159898.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter discusses how religion shapes a community or a nation. Using the state of Texas as the backdrop of this book, the chapter argues American religion cannot be understood apart ...
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This introductory chapter discusses how religion shapes a community or a nation. Using the state of Texas as the backdrop of this book, the chapter argues American religion cannot be understood apart from considering its reciprocal relationship with race. The familiar observation that white and black churches evolved as, and largely continue to be, separate institutions does not go far enough. It also mattered that this institutional separation bred misunderstanding and indeed fear as well as inequality. American religion was profoundly shaped as well by the frontier experience, the westward movement grounded in the nation's sense of manifest destiny, and the dangers involved. National encounters and immigration have repeatedly altered the contours of American religion. These are the local and regional influences that require closer scrutiny.Less
This introductory chapter discusses how religion shapes a community or a nation. Using the state of Texas as the backdrop of this book, the chapter argues American religion cannot be understood apart from considering its reciprocal relationship with race. The familiar observation that white and black churches evolved as, and largely continue to be, separate institutions does not go far enough. It also mattered that this institutional separation bred misunderstanding and indeed fear as well as inequality. American religion was profoundly shaped as well by the frontier experience, the westward movement grounded in the nation's sense of manifest destiny, and the dangers involved. National encounters and immigration have repeatedly altered the contours of American religion. These are the local and regional influences that require closer scrutiny.
Sanford Levinson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152400
- eISBN:
- 9781400839872
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152400.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This book examines the “constitutional faith” that has, since 1788, been a central component of American “civil religion.” By taking seriously the parallel between wholehearted acceptance of the ...
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This book examines the “constitutional faith” that has, since 1788, been a central component of American “civil religion.” By taking seriously the parallel between wholehearted acceptance of the Constitution and religious faith, the book opens up a host of intriguing questions about what it means to be American. While some view the Constitution as the central component of an American religion that serves to unite the social order, the book maintains that its sacred role can result in conflict, fragmentation, and even war. This book takes the view that the Constitution’s value lies in the realm of the discourse it sustains: a uniquely American form of political rhetoric that allows citizens to grapple with every important public issue imaginable. A new afterword looks at the deepening of constitutional worship and attributes the current widespread frustrations with the government to the static nature of the Constitution.Less
This book examines the “constitutional faith” that has, since 1788, been a central component of American “civil religion.” By taking seriously the parallel between wholehearted acceptance of the Constitution and religious faith, the book opens up a host of intriguing questions about what it means to be American. While some view the Constitution as the central component of an American religion that serves to unite the social order, the book maintains that its sacred role can result in conflict, fragmentation, and even war. This book takes the view that the Constitution’s value lies in the realm of the discourse it sustains: a uniquely American form of political rhetoric that allows citizens to grapple with every important public issue imaginable. A new afterword looks at the deepening of constitutional worship and attributes the current widespread frustrations with the government to the static nature of the Constitution.
Lydia Bean
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161303
- eISBN:
- 9781400852611
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161303.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This introductory chapter presents a new perspective on how white evangelical Christians have become an important constituency for the Republican Party in the United States. Sociologist Robert ...
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This introductory chapter presents a new perspective on how white evangelical Christians have become an important constituency for the Republican Party in the United States. Sociologist Robert Wuthnow has described this shift as part of a larger restructuring of American religion that took place within local congregations, denominations, and public life. Before the 1960s, voters were socialized from birth into ethnoreligious communities—Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish—that instilled certain assumptions about party loyalty. Protestants identified with the Republicans and Catholics with the Democrats. But since the 1960s, religious identity has become more voluntary and disconnected from tight-knit ethnic communities. Americans are now divided by the values and lifestyles that they have chosen for themselves, rather than by inherited ethnoreligious loyalties.Less
This introductory chapter presents a new perspective on how white evangelical Christians have become an important constituency for the Republican Party in the United States. Sociologist Robert Wuthnow has described this shift as part of a larger restructuring of American religion that took place within local congregations, denominations, and public life. Before the 1960s, voters were socialized from birth into ethnoreligious communities—Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish—that instilled certain assumptions about party loyalty. Protestants identified with the Republicans and Catholics with the Democrats. But since the 1960s, religious identity has become more voluntary and disconnected from tight-knit ethnic communities. Americans are now divided by the values and lifestyles that they have chosen for themselves, rather than by inherited ethnoreligious loyalties.
Melanie J. Wright
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195152265
- eISBN:
- 9780199834884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195152263.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 1939 novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, characterizing the novel as a complex, sophisticated work influenced by biblical narrative, African‐American ...
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This chapter discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 1939 novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, characterizing the novel as a complex, sophisticated work influenced by biblical narrative, African‐American religion, and the social sciences. In the light of Hurston's near iconic status in some feminist circles, the importance of her identity as an African‐American woman for her representation of the exodus is considered. Hurston's anthropological training with Franz Boas, and consequent familiarity with the concept of cultural relativism, is also shown to be formative of her presentation of the biblical story as at once both unique and relative, the myth by which Americans live(d).Less
This chapter discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 1939 novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, characterizing the novel as a complex, sophisticated work influenced by biblical narrative, African‐American religion, and the social sciences. In the light of Hurston's near iconic status in some feminist circles, the importance of her identity as an African‐American woman for her representation of the exodus is considered. Hurston's anthropological training with Franz Boas, and consequent familiarity with the concept of cultural relativism, is also shown to be formative of her presentation of the biblical story as at once both unique and relative, the myth by which Americans live(d).
John M. Giggie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304039
- eISBN:
- 9780199866885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304039.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
This chapter investigates how growing numbers of Delta blacks rejected a number of the new dimensions to black religion, including the role of fraternal orders, the sight of ministers hawking market ...
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This chapter investigates how growing numbers of Delta blacks rejected a number of the new dimensions to black religion, including the role of fraternal orders, the sight of ministers hawking market wares in person and in print, the popular stress on worldly goods as a sign of spiritual worth and success, and the marginalization of women from traditional roles of authority. It demonstrates how the disenchanted turned to a new breed of religious leader, men such as William Christian, Charles H. Mason, and Charles P. Jones, one-time Baptist ministers who urged blacks to recapture the spirit of primitive Christianity. Each was a founding father of the African American Holiness‐Pentecostal movement and criticized black denominational churches as too materialistic, rational, and hostile to ecstatic dimensions of worship. Yet within twenty years of its founding, the Holiness leaders, ironically, embraced some of the very denominational practices they had previously castigated, revealing not only the limits to their calls for reform but also some of the modern characteristics of Delta black religion as a whole.Less
This chapter investigates how growing numbers of Delta blacks rejected a number of the new dimensions to black religion, including the role of fraternal orders, the sight of ministers hawking market wares in person and in print, the popular stress on worldly goods as a sign of spiritual worth and success, and the marginalization of women from traditional roles of authority. It demonstrates how the disenchanted turned to a new breed of religious leader, men such as William Christian, Charles H. Mason, and Charles P. Jones, one-time Baptist ministers who urged blacks to recapture the spirit of primitive Christianity. Each was a founding father of the African American Holiness‐Pentecostal movement and criticized black denominational churches as too materialistic, rational, and hostile to ecstatic dimensions of worship. Yet within twenty years of its founding, the Holiness leaders, ironically, embraced some of the very denominational practices they had previously castigated, revealing not only the limits to their calls for reform but also some of the modern characteristics of Delta black religion as a whole.
Jonathon S. Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307894
- eISBN:
- 9780199867516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307894.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's ...
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Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's work is a rich world of sermonic essays, jeremiads, biblical rhetoric, and prayers all of which are devoted to the overarching goal of fighting for the spiritual, political, and social conditions of those who “live within the Veil.” This book argues that Du Bois fashions his religious voice from two sources: African American religion and American pragmatism. Du Bois's religious voice draws on the natural piety of the slave spirituals, the protestations of the African American jeremiad, the language of sacrifice, and the preacher's facility with biblical rhetoric. From the American pragmatists, Du Bois finds a heterodox religious register that shuns metaphysical and supernatural realities for an earthly form of salvation rooted in human relations. By using pragmatist tools to embrace African American religious resources without their normative metaphysical commitments, Du Bois creates a new black faith: a radical version of pragmatic religious naturalism. This account of Du Bois's religious voice frees us from shoehorning Du Bois into ready-made Christian constructions; his religious heterodoxy runs too deep and throughout his life he chafed against the label, “Christian.” It allows us to imagine Du Bois as practicing what might be understood as an original black American faith—one that pays homage to African American Christian pasts, but radically reconfigures them for a democratic and ecumenical future.Less
Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's work is a rich world of sermonic essays, jeremiads, biblical rhetoric, and prayers all of which are devoted to the overarching goal of fighting for the spiritual, political, and social conditions of those who “live within the Veil.” This book argues that Du Bois fashions his religious voice from two sources: African American religion and American pragmatism. Du Bois's religious voice draws on the natural piety of the slave spirituals, the protestations of the African American jeremiad, the language of sacrifice, and the preacher's facility with biblical rhetoric. From the American pragmatists, Du Bois finds a heterodox religious register that shuns metaphysical and supernatural realities for an earthly form of salvation rooted in human relations. By using pragmatist tools to embrace African American religious resources without their normative metaphysical commitments, Du Bois creates a new black faith: a radical version of pragmatic religious naturalism. This account of Du Bois's religious voice frees us from shoehorning Du Bois into ready-made Christian constructions; his religious heterodoxy runs too deep and throughout his life he chafed against the label, “Christian.” It allows us to imagine Du Bois as practicing what might be understood as an original black American faith—one that pays homage to African American Christian pasts, but radically reconfigures them for a democratic and ecumenical future.
Amanda Porterfield
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131376
- eISBN:
- 9780199834570
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131371.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Religious life in the U.S. underwent a profound change in the late twentieth century as divisions between different religious groups softened, exposure to various religions increased, and Americans ...
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Religious life in the U.S. underwent a profound change in the late twentieth century as divisions between different religious groups softened, exposure to various religions increased, and Americans experienced growing interest in personalized forms of religious experience. The surge of interest in personalized forms of spirituality coincided with the decline in the mainstream Protestant institutions that had once dominated American religion and shaped American culture. It also coincided with the criticism of American arrogance, the debacle in Vietnam, and the defeat of victory culture. Nevertheless, even as patriotic optimism and the authority of Protestant institutions declined, Protestant influence persisted in the celebration of individual religious experience, and in the tendency to place the authority of individual experience above that of established institutions and official hierarchies. Late twentieth‐century American spirituality reflected the Protestant tendency to individualism underlying American religious life, even as it also reflected the mainstreaming of Catholicism in American culture, and an unprecedented interest in, and freedom for, other religions. The book traces some of the antecedents of this recent awakening to the spirituality of American Transcendentalism in the nineteenth century and, before that, to New England Puritanism and its investment in the Holy Spirit's power in individual life. In its examination of these historical precedents, the book argues that the persistent tendency toward individualism in American religious life has often been affirmed and promoted as an effective source of benevolence, social responsibility, and reform.Less
Religious life in the U.S. underwent a profound change in the late twentieth century as divisions between different religious groups softened, exposure to various religions increased, and Americans experienced growing interest in personalized forms of religious experience. The surge of interest in personalized forms of spirituality coincided with the decline in the mainstream Protestant institutions that had once dominated American religion and shaped American culture. It also coincided with the criticism of American arrogance, the debacle in Vietnam, and the defeat of victory culture. Nevertheless, even as patriotic optimism and the authority of Protestant institutions declined, Protestant influence persisted in the celebration of individual religious experience, and in the tendency to place the authority of individual experience above that of established institutions and official hierarchies. Late twentieth‐century American spirituality reflected the Protestant tendency to individualism underlying American religious life, even as it also reflected the mainstreaming of Catholicism in American culture, and an unprecedented interest in, and freedom for, other religions. The book traces some of the antecedents of this recent awakening to the spirituality of American Transcendentalism in the nineteenth century and, before that, to New England Puritanism and its investment in the Holy Spirit's power in individual life. In its examination of these historical precedents, the book argues that the persistent tendency toward individualism in American religious life has often been affirmed and promoted as an effective source of benevolence, social responsibility, and reform.
