The Black Church in the African American ExperienceBlack churches in America have long been recognized as the most independent, stable, and dominant institutions in black communities. In The Black Church in the African American Experience, based on a ten-year study, is the largest nongovernmental study of urban and rural churches ever undertaken and the first major field study on the subject since the 1930s. Drawing on interviews with more than 1,800 black clergy in both urban and rural settings, combined with a comprehensive historical overview of seven mainline black denominations, C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya present an analysis of the Black Church as it relates to the history of African Americans and to contemporary black culture. In examining both the internal structure of the Church and the reactions of the Church to external, societal changes, the authors provide important insights into the Church’s relationship to politics, economics, women, youth, and music. Among other topics, Lincoln and Mamiya discuss the attitude of the clergy toward women pastors, the reaction of the Church to the civil rights movement, the attempts of the Church to involve young people, the impact of the black consciousness movement and Black Liberation Theology and clergy, and trends that will define the Black Church well into the next century. This study is complete with a comprehensive bibliography of literature on the black experience in religion. Funding for the ten-year survey was made possible by the Lilly Endowment and the Ford Foundation. |
Contents
The Religious Dimension Toward a Sociology of Black Churches | 1 |
The Black Baptists The First Black Churches in America | 20 |
The Black Methodists The Institutionalization of Black Religious Independence | 47 |
The Black Pentecostals The Spiritual Legacy with a Black Beginning | 76 |
In the Receding Shadow of the Plantation A Profile of Rural Clergy and Churches in the Black Belt | 92 |
In the Streets of the Black Metropolis A Profile of Black Urban Clergy and Churches | 115 |
The New Black Revolution The Black Consciousness Movement and the Black Church | 164 |
Now Is the Time The Black Church Politics and Civil Rights Militancy | 196 |
The Pulpit and the Pew The Black Church and Women | 274 |
In My Mothers House The Black Church and Young People | 309 |
The Performed Word Music and the Black Church | 346 |
The Black Church and the TwentyFirst Century Challenges to the Black Church | 382 |
Appendix | 405 |
Notes | 411 |
Bibliography | 469 |
| 501 | |
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The Black Church in the African American Experience C. Eric Lincoln,Lawrence H. Mamiya Limited preview - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
A.M.E. Church A.M.E. Zion Church activities African Americans African Methodist Episcopal areas Baptist Church Bishop black Baptist black children black churches black clergy black community black consciousness black consciousness movement black families black males black Methodist Black Religion black urban churches black women Center century chapter Christ Christian churches and clergy cities civil rights movement COGIC Conference congregations culture economic example Frazier freedom Gayraud Wilmore gospel gospel music groups hymns Ibid income institutions interviews involved James Cone leaders leadership liberation theology membership Methodist Episcopal Church ministers ministry mission Missionary National Baptist Convention Negro Church Nelsen number of black ordained organizations pastors Pentecostal percent political preachers preaching problems programs protest racial religious response role rural clergy secular Seminary slavery slaves social social gospel society songs South spiritual Sunday School survey tend theological tion tradition United white churches worship York young adults