The African American Religious Experience in America

Anthony B. Pinn

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN:
  9780313325854
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313060182
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Comparative Religion

Most who think about African American religion limit themselves to black churches, or perhaps to aspects of Islamic thought and practice. But a close look at the religious landscape of African American communities presents a much more complex, thick, and layered religious reality comprising many competing faiths and practices. The African American Religious Experience in America provides readers with an introduction to the tremendous religious diversity of African American communities in the United States, with snapshots of 11 religious traditions practiced by African Americans—from Buddhism to Catholicism, from Judaism to Voodoo. Each snapshot provides readers a better understanding of how African Americans practice their faiths in the United States.

The African American Religious Experience in America provides resources for students taking classes on the history of American religion, African American Studies, and on American Studies. In addition to the in-depth discussion of the varieties of African American Religion, the volume includes a historical introduction to the development of African American Religion, a glossary of terms, a timeline of important events, a series of short biographies of important figures in the history of African American religion and a bibliography of sources for further study. Finally, the book includes a series of primary source documents that will provide students with first-person accounts of how religion is practiced in the African American community both today and in the past.

Table of contents

• Contets
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Language
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Historical Context of the African American Religious Experience
• Chapter 2: Development of the African American Religious Experience
• Chapter 3: Black Spiritual Churches
• Chapter 4: Buddhism
• Chapter 5: Humanism
• Chapter 6: Judaism
• Chapter 7: Nation of Islam
• Chapter 8: Protestant Churches
• Chapter 9: The Roman Catholic Church
• Chapter 10: Santeria
• Chapter 11: Sunni Islam
• Chapter 12: Voodoo
• Timeline
• Glossary
• Biographies
• Appendix One: Responsibilities for the Christianization of Enslaved Africans
• Appendix Two: Herbie Hancock's Approach
• Appendix Three: The Benefits of the End of Slavery
• Appendix Four: The Role of Women in the Episcopal Church
• Appendix Five: Racial Problems of the Catholic Church
• Appendix Six: Funds for African Americans
• Appendix Seven: Negative Consequences of Slavery on the Christian Faith
• Appendix Eight: The Nature and Purpose of Black Humanism
• Selected Bibliography
• Index