This valuable resource from one of the founding fathers of the black theology movement discusses how to minister to the black community. Using an interdisciplinary approach, J. Deotis Toberts shows how theological concepts can be applied to education, pastoral care, and political and economic issues.
Craig Keener and Glenn Usry's highly acclaimed Black Man's Religion showed in impressive detail that Christianity and Afrocentricity can go together. Now they turn to specific, nitty-gritty questions put to the black church by non-Christians: Is everything good in Christianity plagiarized from traditional African religions? Isn't it intolerant to say Christ is the only way to God? Is the Bible reliable? What about criticisms of Christianity made by the Nation of Islam? Keener and Usry meet these and other important questions head-on, providing responses relevant to and especially for black men and women.
An estimated two-thirds of Caribbeans live outside their homeland. 'Home Away from Home' identifies the different forms of Caribbean diasporan identity and argues that the faith Caribbean people brought with them into the diaspora plays a central role in their development. The study provides a theological interpretation of the diasporan experience, and outlines the principles of diasporan theology and the distinctiveness of its church. Focusing on the Caribbean diaspora in the US, and analysing aspects of the Caribbean British diaspora, the book forges a Black Atlantic theology. The volume also engages with wider discourse on the Black diaspora to offer an inclusive Caribbean diasporan ecclesiology that overcomes Black African-American/Euro-American binaries.
For junior/senior-level courses in Religion and Society in departments of Sociology and Religious Studies. Using an unbiased, balanced approach, the 8th edition of this text puts religion in its social context by discussing the impact of society on religion and helps students understand the role and function of religion in society that occur regardless of anyone's claims about the truth or falsity of religious systems.
For decades the black church and black theology have held each other at arm's length. Black theology has emphasized the role of Christian faith in addressing racism and other forms of oppression, arguing that Jesus urged his disciples to seek the freedom of all peoples. Meanwhile, the black church, even when focused on social concerns, has often emphasized personal piety rather than social protest. With the rising influence of conservative evangelicalism, biblical fundamentalism, and the prosperity gospel, the divide has become even more pronounced. In The Divided Mind of the Black Church, Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of the Reverend Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., traces the historical significance of the rise and development of black theology as an important conversation partner for the black church. (dust jacket).
This fresh new approach to African-American theology brings two creative theologians into a lively dialogue between womanist and Xodus" thought. Karen Baker-Fletcher writes from the perspective of womanism, reflecting the interlocking issues of sex, class, and race, that characterize the experience of African-American women. Garth KASIMU Baker-Fletcher writes from the perspective of what he has termed Xodus theology. With a name that resonates with reference both to the Exodus story, the Cross, and the self-naming identity of Malcolm X, Xodus reflects the perspective of a new generation of Black theology by males who have responded, among other things, to the challenges of womanist theology. In successive chapters based on core themes of theology, each author lays out his or her position. They then engage in mutual critique and dialogue. Both authors draw widely on the Bible and traditional theology, as well as incorporating elements from both African and African-American religious and cultural expression - from the novels of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker to rap and hip-hop. 'My Sister, My Brother' weaves a bright theological tapestry that integrates female and male experience, traditional and contemporary perspectives, in an African-American theology that promotes survival, resistance, healing, liberation, and transcendence. CONTENTS: Part I God: God as Spirit and Strength of Life; Xodus Intuitions of the Divine. Part II Christ: Immanuel, Jesus as Dust and Spirit; Jesus, the Scandal of a God with a Body. Part III Humanity: Xodus Anthropology; Womanhood, A Way of Being Human. Part IV Generations: Unto All Generations; Unto the Fathers' Fathers. Part V Church: Spirit-Church; Having Church." Part VI: Last Things: Future Now! Xodus Eschatology; Dust to Dust, Spirit to Spirit. A Womanist Eschatology.
Since slavery times African-American religious thinkers have struggled to answer this question: Is Christianity a source of liberation or a source of oppression? In a study that reviews representative thinkers over the last fifty years, Mark Chapman reviews the variety of ways that African-Americans have addressed this problem and how it has informed their work and lives. Beginning with Benjamin Mays, the leading Negro theologian of the post-World War II period, Chapman explores the critical implications of this question right up to the present day. The pivotal turning point in this period is the emergence of the Black Power movement in the 1960s. Sparked in part by the challenge of the Black Muslims, for whom Christianity was simply the white man's religion, inherently racist and oppressive, the era of Black Power saw the rise of militant Black theologies as well. After analyzing the work of the Muslim Elijah Muhammad, Chapman turns to the pioneering work of Black theologians Albert Cleage and James H. Cone. Chapman demonstrates the differences but also uncovers surprising lines of continuity between the older Negro theologians and the later Black theologians, particularly in their efforts to uncover the truly liberative potential of Christianity. 'Christianity on Trial' concludes by exploring the recent emergence of womanist theology. As articulated by Delores S. Williams and other African-American women, womanist theology challenges not only the patriarchal aspects of historical Christianity, but the same limitations in previous Black theologies.
Schweitzer?s goal in this book is to explore what postmodernity actually means for theology and how theology and the church may respond to its challenges. He focuses on the life cycle as it is changing with the advent of postmodernity, looking sequentially at segments of the life cycle using different lenses: modernity, postmodernity, and responses from church and theology. Schweitzer concludes with a theology of the life cycle.
Compared to the early decades of the 20th century, when scholarly writing on African Americans was limited to a few titles on slavery, Reconstruction, and African American migration, the last thirty years have witnessed an explosion of works on the African American experience. With the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s came an increasing demand for the study and teaching of African American history followed by the publication of increasing numbers of titles on African American life and history. This volume provides a comprehensive bibliographical and analytical guide to this growing body of literature as well as an analysis of how the study of African Americans has changed.