The Politics of Interdependent Independence in Black Religion: The Case of the Reverend George Freeman Bragg Jr., a Black Episcopal Priest

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-454
Author(s):  
Nicole Myers Turner
Keyword(s):  
Black Church ◽  
Black People ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Black Leadership ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
Autonomous Action ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Theological School ◽  
Reconstruction Period

AbstractIn the Reconstruction period, Black religion and politics intersected and fostered ideas about black interdependent independence in predominantly white churches. We see this form of black religious politics exemplified in the experiences and ideas of the Reverend George Freeman Bragg Jr., a Black Episcopal priest who was educated at the Branch Theological School (BTS) in Petersburg, Virginia. It was upon the foundation of Bragg's experiences at the BTS, established as a racially segregated alternative to the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary (in Alexandria, Virginia), and in the Readjuster Movement (a biracial political coalition that controlled Virginia's legislature from 1879–1885), that he wrote histories of Black people in the Episcopal Church, histories that extolled black leadership, the need for (white) economic support for but also autonomous action of black churches and black leaders, and the efficacy of the Episcopal Church as a political training ground for black church members. Bragg's case both demonstrates how broadening the definitions of black religion reconfigures studies of religion, reconstruction, and Blackness, and expands our notions of Black political critique as deriving from more than the familiar binaries of protest and accommodation.

scholarly journals The black church as the womb of black liberation theology?: Why the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) is not a genuine black church?

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rothney S. Tshaka
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Critical Theology ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article sets forth a controversial thesis which suggests that the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, although considered a black church, is in fact not a black church in the sense in which a radical black church is traditionally understood. A black church, it is argued, is perceived to be one that is a self-determined church which supports initiatives of ameliorating the depressive situations in which black people find themselves. References are made to black theology as a critical theology which was never accepted in the black church due to the dependency syndrome which was brought about by the white benevolence of the Dutch Reformed Church. This, it is argued, had become innate in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa which still considers itself as a so-called daughter church of the white Dutch Reformed Church.

The Biology of Behavior

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Begos
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Black People ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
The People ◽  
Theoretical Science

In 1970, Nobel Prize winner William Shockley made a dramatic declaration: that the average IQs of black people were significantly lower than those of whites, and that blacks of low intelligence should be paid by society to be sterilized. Shockley's Nobel was for work he conducted at Bell Telephone Labs that contributed to the discovery of the transistor. He was not an expert in genetics, biology, sociology, or anything to do with the human mind, behavior, or reproduction. Yet he was able to use his status as a “Nobel laureate” to get vast amounts of media coverage for his sterilization plan. Why did journalists give Shockley so much ink? Would they—or their editors—send a troubled child who needed help to a TV repair shop, or send a broken computer to the office of a psychologist at Harvard University? Why, then, would they quote a physicist like Shockley when writing about race and intelligence? The subject of the biology and genetics of behavior raises many questions like these. It is a fascinating field to write about, but it will take you into some pretty tricky terrain. You'll often find yourself (and your sources) moving back and forth across two vastly different scientific domains—the laboratory, which has traditionally been based on chemistry, biology, and experiments that can be duplicated and proven, and theoretical science, which aims to uncover and explain broad concepts about life. The people you encounter will have specific areas of expertise, but some may (consciously or not) attempt to make grand statements about how a particular idea or discovery may affect humanity. This is a huge, complicated, controversial subject just waiting to suck journalists into its hungry maw, from which it will spit us out in little pieces. Okay, I'm exaggerating (a little). But it can be overwhelming to figure out even how to begin. There's Darwin and cell biology, psychology, sociology, religion, and politics. There are historical figures such as B. F. Skinner and current stars such as Noam Chomsky at MIT and Harvard's E. O. Wilson and Steven Pinker. And there's the whole issue of racism at the edges.

The Idea of Black Religion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil W. Drake
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Stress ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Antebellum Period ◽  
Stress Transmission ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Definition Of

It is impossible to provide a conclusive definition of the idea of black religion; however, certain themes, tropes, and characteristics are typically associated with the “black” in black religion. These ideas are inseparable from the ideas of race in American history. The ideas of the religious differences (e.g., institutions, theologies, practices, or values) attributed to black people are not objective or neutral. Rather, these ideas about the differences of black religion are value-laden and shaped by larger debates about the moral and intellectual capabilities, social status, and/or political struggles of black folk in the United States. In this sense, the idea of black religion is inseparable from the larger discourse about black people and their place in the republic. Arguably, black religion was not a formal object of inquiry until the late 19th century, yet it often includes statements about the paganism, idolatry, and/or fetishism used to define “religion of Africa” in the colonial period. By the antebellum period, a cadre of voluntary African associations continued the ideas of pagan Africa that posited a redemptive [African] race that simultaneously sought to purify American religion from slavery and to civilize Africa from the ideas of primitivism. Throughout the 20th century, early studies of “black religion” were associated with ideas of social and moral uplift; race heredity; economic stress; transmission of Africanisms; and protest and liberation. In the end, black religion is intrinsic to U.S. intellectual and cultural history.

Obama, Black Religion, and the Reverend Wright Controversy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Black Church ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Black Identity ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Moral Hypocrisy ◽  
First Time ◽  
The U.S

This chapter examines the controversy surrounding Obama's former, prophetic pastor Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. as it relates to Black identity. The controversy surrounding the comments of Rev. Wright can be traced to black religion's unsolicited interjection into the American public discourse on diversity during an unprecedented presidential campaign, when white America had begun to feel a measure of self-satisfaction about its capacity to transcend historic white supremacy and elect a black man to the high office of the U.S. presidency for the first time in American history. Public questions were raised about Obama's church and faith as well as the patriotism of Rev. Wright and the racial inclusiveness of black religion. Perhaps the controversy would have been less pronounced had black religion's public, “civil,” face been foregrounded. But it came by way of the culturally specific space of the Black Church, not just a context for movement organizing and racial unity, but the setting for challenging moral hypocrisy in an oppressive society.

scholarly journals Black Religious Studies, Misogynoir, and the Matter of Breonna Taylor’s Death

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 621
Author(s):  
Ahmad Greene-Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Black People ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
Central Claim

This article reflects on the matter of state-sanctioned death in Black religious studies, with the murder of Breonna Taylor as its central focus. It examines how scholars of Black religion engage with the issues of state-sanctioned murder, antiblackness, and misogynoir, and it endeavors to underscore ways for Black male* scholars of Black religion to respond to the religious experiences and deaths of Black women and Black people of all gendered experiences. This article’s central claim is that if Black male* scholars of Black religion continue to underscore how Black religion has been a catalyst for Black liberation without attention to how cisheteropatriarchy functions as antiblackness, then we ultimately will be unable to speak the name of Breonna Taylor in earnest.

To Condemn or Not to Condemn: Perceived Climates Concerning Sexual Orientation in Black Churches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luther Young
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
General Population ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Churches ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Black Christians ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Although the United States is becoming more accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) identities, black people are still more likely than the general population to disapprove of non-heterosexuality. Previous research points to the conservative views of the Black Church as a potential explanation for this disparity, but few studies have considered the diversity of perspectives within the Black Church. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with black Christians, this article examines how black congregants experience their churches’ climates concerning sexual orientation. Findings suggest that black congregations tend to foster climates that are not affirming of non-heterosexuality; however, they vary in how they demonstrate non-affirmation. Furthermore, the study finds considerable differences in how congregants perceive and make sense of their perceived church climates concerning non-heterosexuality. These results suggest that the Black Church is not monolithic in its stance concerning sexuality and have implications for efforts to promote LGBQ inclusion within congregations.

Authentically Black and Truly Catholic

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Cressler
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Black Activism ◽  
African American Religion ◽  
Black Catholics ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Religious Landscape

Black Catholics are absent in most histories of U.S. Catholicism and African American religion. Drawn from a wide variety of sources, this book is a lived religious history of Black Catholics in Chicago that demonstrates how new characters and conclusions come to the fore when we move Black Catholics from the margins of our stories to their center. As the Great Migrations transformed the religious landscape of the urban North, Black migrants forged fraught relationships with white missionaries intent on converting entire neighborhoods. Tens of thousands of Black people became Catholic in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. When they did so, they embraced a ritual life and relationships that distinguished them from the evangelical churches proliferating around them. These rituals and relationships came under intense scrutiny by the late 1960s, however, when a growing group of Black Catholic activists sparked a revolution in U.S. Catholicism. Inspired by Black Power and Vatican II, they fought for the self-determination of Black parishes and the right to be both “authentically Black and truly Catholic.” This was neither inevitable nor uncontroversial, however. Faced with strong opposition from fellow Black Catholics, activists became missionaries of a sort as they sought to convert coreligionists to a distinctively Black Catholicism. Rather than presume the unanimity of black consciousness, the ubiquity of Black activism, or the uniformity of Black religion, this book brings to light the lived complexity of being Black and Catholic in Chicago, one of the most significant Catholic communities in the country.

Working together to survive and thrive: The struggle for Black lives past and present

Leadership ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 174271502097620
Author(s):  
Herbert G Ruffin
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Black People ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Black Leadership ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Nonviolent Direct Action ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Revolutionary Period

This article examines Black leadership through the generations as a multifaceted struggle for Black lives led by ordinary Black people working together to end anti-Black violence and systemic racism for the affirmation of their humanity. At the center of this examination is the latest phase in a long struggle for Black lives, which has been branded as a Black Lives Matter movement. This new movement for social justice developed from past struggles and during the aftermath of the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, 2014 Ferguson uprising, and 2020 George Floyd uprising. For the author, this new struggle is Black Americans most recent “walk of life” that stretches back to the movements for self-determination, anti-enslavement, and civil rights during the American Revolutionary period (1764–1789). Central to this new struggle is the blending of nonviolent direct action tactics with the use of digital technology and the inclusion of people who previously functioned on the margins of the civil rights agenda. This struggle is addressed, first through an exploration of where Black-led community organizations have been since Trayvon’s death, and second, by examining what is currently being done during the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor up to mid-September 2020.

scholarly journals Defining a People

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tisa Wenger
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
Mission Movement

This chapter examines the varieties of religious freedom talk in African American history. It argues that the racial assemblages of the dominant white society severely limited the utility of religious freedom as a way to (re)define African American identity. It begins by showing how often religious freedom worked in support of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy; and how black church leaders rearticulated this freedom as one way to assert the full humanity of black people and to reposition themselves as fully modern, rational and moral modern subjects. The chapter goes on to argue that many of the new religious movements of black urban life—including Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement, the Moorish Science Temple, and the Nation of Islam—used religious freedom talk in their efforts to redefine their communal identity away from the negative valences of blackness, either replacing race with religion or infusing their blackness with a new cosmic significance. But however they defined themselves, the dominant society denied their claims and overwhelmingly dismissed them as fraudulent and overly political rather than legitimately religious. For the vast majority of African Americans, religious freedom provided little escape from the confines of a racialized oppression.

scholarly journals Speaking of God in Stand Your Ground Times

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Brown Douglas
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Womanist Theology ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
Bachelor Of Science ◽  
Anna Julia Cooper ◽  
Black Bodies

Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Professor of Religion at Goucher College where she holds the Susan D. Morgan Professorship of Religion. She is widely published in national and international journals and other publications. As a leading voice in the development of a womanist theology, Essence magazine counts Douglas “among this country’s most distinguished religious thinkers, teachers, ministers, and counselors.”  Her groundbreaking and widely used book Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective (1999) was the first to address the issue of homophobia within the black church community.  Dr. Douglas has been a pioneering and highly sought after voice in regard to addressing sexual issues in relation to the black religious community. She has been very active in advocating equal rights for LGBT persons.Her latest book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015) examines the challenges of a “Stand Your Ground” culture for the Black Church and all black bodies.  Other books include The Black Christ (1994), What’s Faith Got to Do With It?:Black Bodies/Christian Souls (2005),and Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant (2012). Dr. Douglas is also the co-editor of Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection (2010).Douglas is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Denison where she earned a bachelor of science summa cum laude in psychology.  She went on to earn a master of divinity and a doctoral degree in systematic theology from Union Theological Seminary (New York City). Rev. Douglas was ordained at Ohio’s St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in 1985. She received the Anna Julia Cooper Award by the Union of Black Episcopalians (July 2012) for “her literary boldness and leadership in the development of a womanist theology and discussing the complexities of Christian faith in African-American contexts.”Rev. Douglas was an Associate Priest at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. for over 20 years.  She currently serves at the Washington National Cathedral.

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