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.”