Leisure and Fellowship in the Life of the Black Church explores why leisure and fellowship in congregational life of African American churches matters. The book provides a biblical and theological foundation for the concepts of work, rest, Sabbath, play, leisure and fellowship. Moreover, the book explores how religious tradition and doctrine shape and constrains our attitudes and behaviors about leisure, fellowship and living abundantly. Several churches are lifted as exemplars based on the way that they embrace leisure and fellowship within their respective congregations. In the closing chapters, the book examines what leisure and fellowship might be like in Heaven and how we engage Christ and each other in congregations.
The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series. “Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again “Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and The Black Box, and one of our most important voices on the African American experience, comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community’s most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.
Being a faithful disciple of Christ means having seasoned speech: practicing a rhetoric that beneficially and persuasively imparts the surprising truth of the gospel. James Beitler seeks to renew interest in and hunger for an effective Christian rhetoric by closely considering the work of five beloved Christian communicators: C. S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Desmond Tutu, and Marilynne Robinson.
Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure: Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Practice provides an overview of the current theories and practices related to minority leisure and reviews numerous issues related to these diverse groups’ leisure, including needs and motivations, constraints, and discrimination. World-renowned researchers synthesize research on race and ethnicity, explain how demographics will affect leisure behavior in the 21st century, and explain the leisure behavior of minorities.
Heritage, Tourism, and Race views heritage and leisure tourism in the Americas through the lens of race, and is especially concerned with redressing gaps in recognizing and critically accounting for African Americans as an underrepresented community in leisure. Fostering critical public discussions about heritage, travel, tourism, leisure, and race, Jackson addresses the underrepresentation of African American leisure experiences and links Black experiences in this area to discussions of race, place, spatial imaginaries, and issues of segregation and social control explored in the fields of geography, architecture, and the law. Most importantly, the book emphasizes the importance of shifting public dialogue from a singular focus on those groups who are disadvantaged within a system of racial hierarchy, to those actors and institutions exerting power over racialized others through practices of exclusion. Heritage, Tourism, and Race will be invaluable reading for academics and students engaged in the study of museums, as well as architecture, anthropology, public history, and a range of other disciplines. It will also be of interest to museum and heritage professionals and those studying the construction and control of space and how this affects and reveals the narratives of marginalized communities.
The story of African Americans in Kentucky is as diverse and vibrant as the state's general history. The work of more than 150 writers, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia is an essential guide to the black experience in the Commonwealth. The encyclopedia includes biographical sketches of politicians and community leaders as well as pioneers in art, science, and industry. Kentucky's impact on the national scene is registered in an array of notable figures, such as writers William Wells Brown and bell hooks, reformers Bessie Lucas Allen and Shelby Lanier Jr., sports icons Muhammad Ali and Isaac Murphy, civil rights leaders Whitney Young Jr. and Georgia Powers, and entertainers Ernest Hogan, Helen Humes, and the Nappy Roots. Featuring entries on the individuals, events, places, organizations, movements, and institutions that have shaped the state's history since its origins, the volume also includes topical essays on the civil rights movement, Eastern Kentucky coalfields, business, education, and women. For researchers, students, and all who cherish local history, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia is an indispensable reference that highlights the diversity of the state's culture and history.
The majority of sport psychology research to date has been underpinned and driven by a secular perspective. There is an urgent need for sport psychologists to better understand the relevance of Christian faith in athletes’ sporting experiences and day-to-day lives in order to improve their performance and well-being. Sport, Psychology and Christianity is the first book to consider the relationship between sport psychology provision and Christianity from a welfare and performance perspective. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars in the field, the book includes chapters on: The role of faith in sport injury rehabilitation Christian belief and resilience during injury The pitfalls of perfectionism in sport Collaboration between sport psychologist and club chaplain Ethical considerations when working with spiritual athletes Reflective practice in sport psychology consultancy Offering a holistic approach to improving athlete welfare and performance where faith and spirituality are core tenets of well-being, this volume is a critical and timely resource for students, researchers and practitioners working in sport psychology; sport and spirituality; or religion, sports chaplaincy and allied roles and professions.
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) or Domestic Violence (DV) continues to be a perennial issue in the Black church and Christendom as a whole. Women in the church continue to experience violence at increased rates, but leadership has been delayed in providing a meaningful response to IPV as families experience the turmoil of abuse. Further, more and more children suffer from the trauma of family violence that perpetuates as males, who witness IPV, have a greater susceptibility of becoming abusers and females, who witness abuse, are put in risk of choosing abusers in relationships. The church must now become the leading change agent in the struggle to reduce and end family violence by addressing the heart of the issue, the pulpit, namely male leaders in the church who abuse their wives and hide behind the scripture text. The church must expose the biblical truth regarding marriage and relationships and embed policy within the by-laws of the church that provide victims and survivors with opportunities for confidential reporting, resources when they are ready to leave, and on-going support for women who desire to transition from abuse to survivorship.
Leading contemporary theologians and scholars present essays on the themes of liberation and reconciliation in tribute to J. Deotis Roberts. The essays are divided into the following sections: Theological Reflection, Faith in Dialogue, and Shaping the Practice of Ministry. The compilation presents an interesting array of perspectives on the ways in which Christian theology, ethics, and ministry are involved in the quests for liberation and reconciliation in North America and the rest of the world.
