The Black Church A Refuge in a Hostile World

Black Sacred Cosmos W.E.B. Dubois – “The Negro church was born in the African forest.” African Past Western Christianity Black Church(es) filter

African Survival a means to: Explain the Black Church’s freedom to interpret scripture & his own suffering Explain the Black Church’s freedom to interpret scripture & his own suffering Give identity & meaning to his existence Give identity & meaning to his existence Deposit his African culture Deposit his African culture Frazier – “basis of social cohesion” Frazier – “basis of social cohesion”

The African in America: A Religious Historical Overview NorthSouth st Africans arrive in Jamestown as Indentured Servants AFRICAAFRICA Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (London) Quakers & Anglicans Great Awakening 2/3 Baptists, 1/3 Methodists st Quasi-Independent Church Siverbluff, SC – George Liele 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 Overview NorthSouth AFRICAAFRICA s/60s Freedman begin churches, educ. Inst. & foreign missions for political & social good Invisible now Visible, Institutionalized & Structured Complete Split b/w most Black & White Baptists & Methodists First Black Pentecostal Movement Spread 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 % 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 Theology Black church is a direct consequence of slavery Black church is a direct consequence of slavery Black church is a response to racism Black church is a response to racism Norm=presence of a Black Jesus Norm=presence of a Black Jesus “The norm of all God talk which seeks to be Black talk is the manifestation of Jesus as the Black Christ who provides the necessary soul for Black liberation.”