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Throughout African-American history, religion has been indelibly intertwined with the fight against intolerance and racial prejudice. Martin Luther King, Jr.-America's best-known champion of civil liberties-was a Baptist minister. Father Divine, a fiery preacher who established a large
following in the 1920s and 1930s, convinced his disciples that he could cure not only disease and infirmity, but also poverty and racism.
An in-depth examination of African-American history and religion, this comprehensive and lively book provides panoramic coverage of the black religious and social experience in America. Renowned historian Albert J. Raboteau traces the subtle blending of African tribal customs with the powerful
Christian establishment, the migration to cities, the growth of Islam, and the 200-year fight for freedom and identity which was so often centered around African-American churches. From the African Methodist Episcopal Church to the Nation of Islam and from the first African slaves to Louis
Farrakhan, this far-reaching book chronicles the evolution of an important and influential component of our religious and historical heritage. African American Religion combines meticulously researched historical facts with a fast-paced, engaging narrative that will appeal to readers of any age.
Religion in American Life explores the evolution, character, and dynamics of organized religion in America from 1500 to the present day. Written by distinguished religious historians, these books weave together the varying stories that compose the religious fabric of the United States, from
Puritanism to alternative religious practices. Primary source material coupled with handsomeillustrations and lucid text make these books essential in any exploration of America's diverse nature. Each book includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and index.

From the Publisher:
From his anthropological fieldwork among black religious groups in Philadelphia in the early 1940s, Arthur Huff Fauset believed it was possible to determine the likely direction that mainstream black religious leadership would take in the future, a direction that later indeed manifested itself in the civil rights movement. The American black church, according to Fauset and other contemporary researchers, provided the one place where blacks could experiment without hindrance in activities such as business, politics, social reform, and social expression. With detailed primary accounts of these early spiritual movements and their beliefs and practices, Black Gods of the Metropolis reveals the fascinating origins of such significant modern African American religious groups as the Nation of Islam as well as the role of lesser-known and even forgotten churches in the history of the black community.

In her new foreword, historian Barbara Dianne Savage discusses the relationship between black intellectuals and black religion, in particular the relationship between black social scientists and black religious practices during Fauset's time. She then explores the complexities of that relationship and its impact on the intellectual and political history of African American religion in general.

Glenn Usry and Craig Keener contend that Christianity can be Afrocentric. In this massively researched book, they show that racism is not inherent in Christianity. More important, they show how "world history is also our history and the Bible is also our book". Black Man's Religion is one of the first of its kind, a pro-Christian reading of religion and history from a Black perspective. Fascinating and compelling, it is must reading for all concerned for African-American culture and issues of faith.

From the Publisher:
Since its first publication 25 years ago Black Religion and Black Radicalism has established itself as the classic treatment of African American religious history. Wilmore shows to what extent the history of African Americans can be told in terms of religion, and to what extent this religious history has been inseparably bound to the struggle for freedom and justice. From the story of the slave rebellions and emancipation, to the rise of Black nationalism and the freedom struggles of recent times, up through the development of Black, womanist, and Afrocentric theologies, Wilmore offers an essential interpretation of African American religious history.

From the Publisher:
Newly updated and expanded, this classic work is a product of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in America during the 1960's. Black Theology & Black Power is James H. Cone's initial attempt to identify liberation as the heart of the Christian gospel, and blackness as the primary mode of God's presence. As he explains in an introduction written for this edition, "I wanted to speak on behalf of the voiceless black masses in the name of Jesus whose gospel I believed had been greatly distorted by the preaching and theology of white churches."

A collaborative theology built on African-American religious experience and American spiritual life

Judith Weisenfeld, Albert J. Raboteau, Charles Long, James H. Cone, and many other prized and esteemed voices collaborate to build a new theology based on the African-American religious experience and America's religious landscape. Moving from studies of specific cases in African-American history and theology to discussions of how African-American experiences can and should inform all studies of American life, they uncover the spiritual human soul that unites us and transcends the accidents of the racial, economic, and social identities that keep us apart. The editors call this project a "testament of hope," and it is a powerful tribute to the late James M. Washington, whose intellectual projects, including Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayer by African-Americans, were an inspirational search for universality.

No other story in the Bible has fired the imaginations of African Americans quite like that of Exodus. Its tale of suffering and the journey to redemption offered hope and a sense of possibility to people facing seemingly insurmountable evil."Exodus!" shows how this biblical story inspired a pragmatic tradition of racial advocacy among African Americans in the early nineteenth century--a tradition based not on race but on a moral politics of respectability. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., begins by comparing the historical uses of Exodus by black and white Americans and the concepts of "nation" it generated. He then traces the roles that Exodus played in the National Negro Convention movement, from its first meeting in 1830 to 1843, when the convention decided--by one vote--against supporting Henry Highland Garnet's call for slave insurrection."Exodus!" reveals the deep historical roots of debates over African-American national identity that continue to rage today. It will engage anyone interested in the story of black nationalism and the promise of African-American religious culture.