T&T Clark Handbook of African American Theology
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
This handbook explores the central theme of Christian faith from various disciplinary approaches and different contexts of black experience in the United States. The central unifying theme is freedom; an important concept both in American culture and Christianity. African American theology represents a Christian understanding of God’s freedom and the good news of God’s call for all humankind to enter life-true human identity and moral responsibility-in genuine and just community.
Contributors to the volume argue that African American theology highlights how racism and other intersecting forms of oppression complicate the human predicament; and that their eradication requires an expansion of salvation to include the liberation of persons who lack full participation in society and enjoyment of the good (and goods) made possible by that society. The essays in this handbook employ the tools of biblical criticism, history, cultural and social analysis, religious studies, philosophy, and systematic theology, in order to explore and assess the nature and impact of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, immigration, and cultural and moral pluralism in America-as well as the intersections between African American and African diasporan religious thought and life.
- Composed by a group of biblical scholars, ethicists, homileticians, church leaders, and historians
- Provides a vision of new directions in African American theology
- Illustrates the degree to which African American theology is capable of exploration from multiple vantage points across the curriculums in theological and religious studies
Part I. Historical Investigations
- The African American Struggle for Human Dignity in Chattel Slavery and Afterwards - Beverly Eileen Mitchell
- Re-evaluating Roots: Slavery as Source and Challenge for African American Theology - Alexis S.Wells-Oghoghomeh
- Then and Now: Salvation, White Supremacy and Black Agency in the Aftermath of the White Supremacy Campaign of 1898 and Presidential Election of 2016 - Sharon J. Grant
- Engaging History Theologically: Early Afro-Pentecostal Interracial Communities as Sites of Emancipatory Politics - David D. Daniels
- “Peace Be Still”: James Cleveland and the Paradox of Peace in the Civil Rights Movement - Johari Jabir
- African American Evangelicals - Soong-Chan Rah
- The Classroom and the Pulpit of the Public Theologian: A Brief Survey of Black Faith Tradition(s) - Adam L. Bond
Part II. Theological Method and Construction
- The Hebrew Bible and Black Theology: Fresh Hermeneutical Considerations for Liberation Theologies and Situating the Teachings of Jesus - Harold V. Bennett
- From Ideology to Theology: Toward a More Liberating Doctrine of Revelation - Harry H. Singleton
- The Reality of God and Racism: Shifting Paradigms in Race, Culture, and the Church - Henry J. Young
- Is Racism in America a Functional Refutation of Classical Philosophical View of Understanding as Pertaining to Universal Concepts? - Cyril Orji
- Theological Considerations of Being Human while Black - Antonia Michelle Daymond
- Pneumatology and Contemporary Theological Discourse - William C. Turner
- Mad with Supernatural Joy: On Representations of Pentecostalism in the Black Religious Imagination - Eric Lewis Williams
- Baptism and Holy Communion: Affirming that Black Lives Matter - Brad R. Braxton
- God and Time: Exploring Black Notions of Prophetic and Apocalyptic Eschatology - Lisa Marie Bowens
- Methodological Development in African American Theology: The Influence of Past Historical Periods upon Contemporary Black and Womanist Thought - Walter R. Strickland
- The Ethics, Politics, and Civic Engagement of African American Theological Production - James S. Logan
- The Church and the Tangent: Everybody's Protest Theology - Matthew V. Johnson
Part III. Church, Ministry, and Leadership
- Prophetic Preaching and Theological Reflection - Kenyatta R. Gilbert
- Plenty Good Room Revisited: The Quest for a Radically Inclusive Twenty-first-century Black Church - Marcia Y. Riggs
- Black Ecumenism and the Ecumenical Movement: Four Perspectives - Beverly J. Goines
- Receiving the Body as Gift: African American Christian Ethics and the Harlem Renaissance as a Theo-Ethical Intervention - Reggie L. Williams
- Theology, Praxis, and Leadership: Paradigm for Black Churches - Forrest E. Harris
- Black Church Pastors as Chief Executive Officers: A Theoretical Reframing of the Debate - Nimi Wariboko
Part IV. Dialogues
- Black Theology and Black Humanism - Duane T. Loynes
- White Feminist Theologies and Black Womanist Theologies - Karen Teel
- Jewish Theology and African American Theology in Dialogue - Kurt Buhring
- Black Theology and the Care of the Soul, Mind and Body: Reading African American Theology from a Black British Perspective - Delroy Hall
- African American Theology and Her Siblings in the Caribbean Diaspora: Toward a Theology of a Plurality of Praxis in the Black Atlantic World - Delroy A. Reid-Salmon
- Metals and Movens of Colored Television: The Spirit is a Bone: A Response to Marla F. Frederick's Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global - Nimi Wariboko
- Epilogue - Eric Lewis Williams
Contributors
- Harold V. Bennett
- Adam L. Bond
- Lisa Marie Bowens
- Brad R. Braxton
- Kurt Buhring
- David D. Daniels
- Antonia Michelle Daymond
- Kenyatta R. Gilbert
- Beverly J. Goines
- Sharon J. Grant
- Delroy Hall
- Forrest E. Harris
- Johari Jabir
- Matthew V. Johnson
- James S. Logan
- Duane T. Loynes, Sr.
- Beverly Eileen Mitchell
- Cyril Orji
- Soong-Chan Rah
- Delroy A. Reid-Salmon
- Marcia Y. Riggs
- Harry H. Singleton
- Walter R. Strickland
- Karen Teel
- William C. Turner
- Frederick L. Ware
- Nimi Wariboko
- Alexis S. Wells-Oghoghomeh
- Eric Lewis Williams
- Reggie L. Williams
- Henry J. Young
This text is a bold statement detailing the theological legacy of a people. African Americans have made an indelible mark on the pages of Christian theology and this fine text explores this ongoing development, covering all the major themes and disciplines in an exemplary manner. This is a must read!
—Anthony G. Reddie, The University of South Africa, South Africa
Frederick L. Ware is Associate Professor of Theology, Howard University School of Divinity, Washington DC, USA.
Antonia Michelle Daymond is a constructive Christian theologian working in the areas of contemporary models of theology as well as systematic philosophical theology.
Eric Lewis Williams is Lecturer on African and American Studies at Harvard University, USA.