The Black Church in the African American Experience / Edition 1

by C. Eric Lincoln

Overview

Black 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822310730
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	11/07/1990
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	538
Sales rank:	266,629
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.09(d)
Lexile:	1590L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 The Religious Dimension: Toward a Sociology of Black Churches 1

2 The Black Baptists: The First Black Churches in America 20

3 The Black Methodists: The Institutionalization of Black Religious Independence 47

4 The Black Pentecostals: The Spiritual Legacy with a Black Beginning 76

5 In the Receding Shadow of the Plantation: A Profile of Rural Clergy and Churches in the Black Belt 92

6 In the Streets of the Black Metropolis: A Profile of Black Urban Clergy and Churches 115

7 The New Black Revolution: The Black Consciousness Movement and the Black Church 164

8 "Now Is the Time!" The Black Church, Politics, and Civil Rights Militancy 196

9 The American Dream and the American Dilemma: The Black Church and Economics 236

10 the Pulpit and the Pew: The Black Church and Women 274

11 "In My Mother's House": The Black Church and Young People 309

12 The Performed Word: Music and the Black Church 346

13 The Black Church and the Twenty-First Century: Challenges to the Black Church 382

Appendix 405

Notes 411

Bibliography 469

Index 501

Editorial Reviews

This is a comprehensive resource book developed from a ten-year field study that investigated the black church as it relates to the history of African Americans and to contemporary black culture. The information listed is a powerful and extremely useful tool in giving researchers an in-depth look into the church's relationships to politics, economics, women (attitudes of clergy as pastors), youth, music, civil rights, and trends for the next century. The study contains an extensive bibliography. Highly readable, well written, and researched, this book is a necessary purchase for scholars and specialists in the field. Unfortunately, the cost may limit its audience to them alone.-- Gayle Leach, Wayne State Univ., Detroit

Library Journal

An overview of the demographic characteristics of black children with an emphasis on changing family trends; a clarification of policy issues with regard to the impact of race and social class; an analysis of the relevance, applicability, and the effectiveness of social programs serving black children; and recommendations for policy making, research, and parent, family, and community action. Combines a comprehensive historical overview of seven mainline black denominations with an analysis of the black church as it relates to the history of African Americans and to contemporary black culture. Draws on interviews with some 1,800 black clergy in both urban and rural settings and reflects study over a ten-year period. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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