Post on 24-Dec-2015
The Black ChurchThe Black Church
A Refuge in a Hostile WorldA Refuge in a Hostile World
Black Sacred CosmosBlack Sacred Cosmos
W.E.B. Dubois – “The Negro church was born in the W.E.B. Dubois – “The Negro church was born in the African forest.”African forest.”
African Past
Western Christianity
Black Church(es)
filter
African Survival a means African Survival a means to:to:
• Explain the Black Church’s freedom to Explain the Black Church’s freedom to interpret scripture & his own sufferinginterpret scripture & his own suffering
• Give identity & meaning to his existenceGive identity & meaning to his existence
• Deposit his African cultureDeposit his African culture
• Frazier – “basis of social cohesion”Frazier – “basis of social cohesion”
The African in America: A Religious Historical The African in America: A Religious Historical OverviewOverview
NorthNorth
SouthSouth
1619
1st Africans arrive in Jamestown as Indentured
Servants
AFRICA
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
(London)
Quakers & Anglicans
1701
1750
Great Awakening
2/3 Baptists, 1/3 Methodists
1773
1st Quasi-Independent Church
Siverbluff, SC – George Liele
1787
1794
1800
1801
Free African Society – Richard Allen & Absalom
Jones
Mother Bethel AME – Phil. Richard Allen
Insurrections, etc…
AMEZ in NY – Peter Williams & Francis Jacobs
The African in America: A Religious Historical The African in America: A Religious Historical OverviewOverview
NorthNorth
SouthSouth
1619
AFRICA 1
701
1750
1773
1787
1794
1800
1801
1850
1865-66
1897
1906
1914
1950s/60s
1945
Freedman begin churches, educ. Inst. &
foreign missions for political & social good
Invisible now Visible, Institutionalized &
Structured
Complete Split b/w most Black & White Baptists &
MethodistsFirst Black Pentecostal
MovementSpread of Black
Pentecostal to LA – Azuza Street
Urbanization & Migration to Northern cities (secularization, social differentiation
& storefronts)
Post WWII Black middle class develops
Black Power & Black Protest
Decline of population in the South (77% in 1890, 72% in 1900, and by 1910 66% of all African Americans lived in the South; by 1975, 75% of all African Americans lived in the North). Today, a steady movement back to the South.
Black TheologyBlack Theology
• Black church is a direct consequence of Black church is a direct consequence of slaveryslavery
• Black church is a response to racismBlack church is a response to racism
• Norm=presence of a Black JesusNorm=presence of a Black Jesus
““The norm of all God talk which seeks to be The norm of all God talk which seeks to be Black talk is the manifestation of Jesus as the Black talk is the manifestation of Jesus as the Black Christ who provides the necessary soul Black Christ who provides the necessary soul for Black liberation.”for Black liberation.”