African American Religion in the United States of America: An Interpretative Essay

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Long
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
African Descent ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Modern World ◽  
American Religion ◽  
African American Religion

This essay addresses the problematical nature of the meaning of religion as it is related to the formation and destiny of peoples of African descent in the United States. Moving beyond a narrow understanding of the nature of religion as expressed in much of Black Theology, for example, this essay proposes a "thick" and complex depiction of religion in the African American context through a recognition of its relationship to the contact and conquest that marked the modern world.

Conclusion

2014 ◽  
pp. 115-118
Author(s):  
Eddie S. Glaude
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Black People ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
American Religion ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
African American Religion

African Americans are generally more religious than other groups in the United States. But African American religion is much more than a description of how deeply religious African Americans are. The phrase helps to differentiate a particular set of religious practices from others that are invested in whiteness; it invokes a particular cultural inheritance that marks the unique journey of African Americans in the United States. African American religion is rooted in the sociopolitical realities that shape the experiences of black people in America, but this is not static or fixed. The ‘Conclusion’ suggests that African American religious life remains a powerful site for creative imaginings in a world still organized by race.

1. The category of “African American religion”

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eddie S. Glaude
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
American Religion ◽  
African American Religion ◽  
History Of

African American religious life is not defined by just the “Negro church”—the preacher, music, and the frenzy—but consists of all the varied religious practices that occur within black communities in the United States. African American religion emerges in the encounter between faith, in all of its complexity, and white supremacy. ‘The Category of "African American Religion"’ explains the three key ideas used to organize the study of African American religion: practice of freedom, sign of difference, and open-ended orientation. Taken together, and using three representative examples of African American religion (conjure, Christianity, and Islam), they help us navigate the complex religious history of African Americans in the United States.

scholarly journals The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Black People ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of America (US). The argument is that the question of blackness cannot and should not be provincialised. To understand how the colonial matrix of power is performed, it should start with the local and be linked with the global to engage critically the colonial matrix of power that is performed within a system of coloniality. Decoloniality is employed in this article as an analytical tool.Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on blackness within Black theology scholarship. It aims to contribute to the continual debates on the excavating and levelling of the epistemological voices that have been suppressed through colonial epistemological universalisation of knowledge from the perspective of the damnés.

P760Clinical profile of African-American and non-Hispanic caucasian patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy syndrome in a large urban hospital in the United States of America

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Westman ◽  
K Ravindra ◽  
J Chiabrando ◽  
D Kadariya ◽  
G Maehara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Hospital Mortality ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Troponin I ◽  
The United States ◽  
Stress Cardiomyopathy ◽  
Urban Hospital ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Caucasian Patients

Abstract Background Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy is an acute reversible heart failure syndrome initially described in Japanese patients, but now well characterized in Caucasians patients in Europe or of European descent. An initial observation has suggested a lower incidence of Takotsubo in non-Caucasian subjects, particularly in the African-American (AA) population in the United States of America. The purpose of this study was to assess whether epidemiologic and clinical differences were present in Takotsubo in a large urban hospital in Virginia, USA. Methods We used an informatics-based system to query electronic health records (TriNetX, Cambridge, MA, USA) to search for cases of Takotsubo between 2010 and 2018 and a corresponding cohort of patients with non-ST segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). We then performed a chart-level review of 160 cases and obtained additional clinical information including symptoms, risk factors, co-morbidities, and in-hospital outcomes. This retrospective study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of our institution. Results We identified 260 cases of Takotsubo and 6,270 of NSTEMI in the same time period (1:24, 4.2%). Being AA was associated with an odds ratio of Takotsubo versus NSTEMI of 0.38 [0.29–0.50] (P=0.0001). With further evaluation of patients with Takotsubo (N=160), AA (N=44, 27.2%) and Non-Hispanic Caucasian (C) (N=110, 67.9%) had no differences in age and sex. AA patients with Takotsubo however were more likely than C patients to be affected by type II diabetes mellitus (38.6% versus 14.5%, P=0.002, OR 3.70 [1.65–8.28]), have history of drug abuse (27.3% versus 9.1%, P=0.009, OR 3.75 [1.48–9.49]) and of cocaine use in particular (9.1% versus 0.9%, P=0.024, OR 11.0 [1.19–101.4]). The pattern of wall motion abnormality was not different between the 2 groups. AA patients presented with a lower ratio of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to troponin I (41.9 [12.7–258] pg./ml versus 281 [42–890] pg/ml, P=0.022). There was no significant difference of in-hospital mortality between the AA and C groups (9.1% versus 25%, respectively, OR 0.40 [0.13–1.24], P=0.11). Conclusions The incidence and clinical characteristics of Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy appear to be different between African-American and Non-Hispanic Caucasian patients. African-American patients are more likely to have diabetes and illicit drug usage, but have a lower BNP/troponin I ratio. Both AA and Non-Hispanic Caucasian patients have similar in-hospital mortality.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Cressler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Color Line ◽  
African American Religion ◽  
Black Catholics ◽  
Catholic History

This chapter begins with the ten Black bishops declaring in 1984 that Black Catholics should be “authentically Black and truly Catholic.” It contrasts this statement with the story of Mary Dolores Gadpaille, who argued in 1958 that Catholicism “lifted her up above the color line.” It juxtaposes these two examples in order to introduce readers to the central questions that govern the book. Why did tens of thousands of African Americans convert to Catholicism in the middle decades of the twentieth century? What did it mean to be Black and Catholic in the first half of the twentieth century and why did it change so dramatically in the thirty years that separated Gadpaille from the bishops? How would placing Black Catholics at the center of our historical narratives change the ways we understand African American religion and Catholicism in the United States? The chapter situates the book in scholarship and briefly introduces readers to Black Catholic history writ large.

Mapping the New Landscape of Religion

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Richard Flory ◽  
Nalika Gajaweera ◽  
Andrew Johnson ◽  
Nick Street
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Religion ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Search For Self ◽  
Self Transcendence

Traditional Protestant religious practice is on the wane in the United States of America. For various reasons, many of the institutions that formed centuries or even millennia ago are no longer fulfilling the yearnings of the current generation of seekers. Still, the news of religion’s imminent demise is premature. A search for self-transcendence, both through a commitment to some form of practice associated with the examined life and within a community of likeminded practitioners, has not withered away. This study of the diverse congregations in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz yields a complex—and dynamic—picture of the potential future of American religion.

scholarly journals Black theology versus black spirituality and black faith: The centrality of spirituality and faith in black theology of liberation in the South African context

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olehile A. Buffel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theology Of Liberation

Black theology, which is linked to black power in the context of the United States of America and black consciousness in the context of South Africa is often regarded as having nothing to do with spirituality, faith and salvation. It is often regarded by critics as radical, militant and political. In some circles its theological character is questioned. Advocates of liberation theology, past and present are accused of mixing religion with politics. The article traces the history of black theology, as part of liberation theology, which started in the 1960s in three contexts, namely Latin America, United States of America and South Africa. The article argues that spirituality, faith and salvation are central to black theology of liberation. The critical theological reflection that black theology of liberation is all about happens in the context of the spiritual journey of the poor believer and oppressed.Contribution: The contribution that this article makes is to serve as a corrective discourse that rebuts the mistaken accusation that black liberation theology has nothing to do with spirituality and faith. The article makes a direct link between spirituality and faith on the one hand and on the other hand liberating Christian praxis of the poor in their spiritual journey, in the context of South Africans as they struggle to liberate themselves amid poverty, service delivery struggles and COVID-19 and its implications.

Yes, We Did? Educational Equity in a New “Post-Racial” Society

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (14) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Adrienne D. Dixson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
American President

The election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States of America marked a watershed moment in American politics. Campaigning on the slogans, “Si se puede!” and “Hope” and “Change,” many Americans, regardless of race, had hoped that his election would also signal an improvement and progress in U.S. race relations and usher in a “post-racial” moment in the United States. This chapter draws on personal narrative to examine the post-racial rhetoric within the context of a multicultural and equity studies doctoral course.

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