The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Freddie Gray by
Beginning with Plato, and carried over in the Christian tradition, western political thought has been wedded to the proposition that justice and virtue can be achieved in history through the adoption of proper norms. Hannah Arendt termed this "the tyranny of truth," and its effect is to transform politics into a religious exercise through commitment to metaphysical propositions like truth or goodness. The tumultuous political aftermath that formed the wake of Freddie Gray's crucifixion in Baltimore, MD, is an example of politics turned religious exercise. In those politics, confessional commitments to propositions related to race, society, and structure came to dominate the interpretation of the killing of Gray's mortal body. But as Gray was resurrected in various forms in the weeks after his death, one consequence is that a very poor community had one of their sons stripped from them first by police violence, and then again through politics whose discursive violence appropriated Gray as proof of its own metaphysics.
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by
The Tuskegee Institute records the lynching of 3,436 blacks between 1882 and 1950. This is probably a small percentage of these murders, which were seldom reported, and led to the creation of the NAACP in 1909, an organization dedicated to passing federal anti-lynching laws. Through all this terror and carnage someone-many times a professional photographer-carried a camera and took pictures of the events. These lynching photographs were often made into postcards and sold as souvenirs to the crowds in attendance. These images are some of photography's most brutal, surviving to this day so that we may now look back on the terrorism unleashed on America's African-American community and perhaps know our history and ourselves better. The almost one hundred images reproduced here are a testament to the camera's ability to make us remember what we often choose to forget.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Loving the Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic by
In this book, contributors argue that the Black Church must begin to address the significance of sexuality if it is to actually present liberation as a mode of existence that fully appreciates the body. The contributors argue that we not only have to look at the Black Church in this discussion, but also explore black Christianity in general.
The Spirituality of Men: Sixteen Christians Write about Their Faith by
Dying to old roles and rising again Sixteen men attempt to lay out what it means to be an adult male Christian. The authors move beyond old stereotypes of manliness and Christian identity to chart new identities, roles, and attitudes. They include men who are deeply in the Christian church and men barely in the church, straight and gay men, white men and African Americans, Protestant and Catholic, younger and older.
Ties That Bind: African/Latino/a Theologies in Dialogue by
The latter half of the twentieth century saw the development of liberationist and progressive theologies whose aim is both to understand life and to enhance it by focusing attention on the ways in which certain groups and ethnic minorities suffer injustices that are traceable to political economy and culture. Although African-American and Hispanic/Latino(a) theologies emerged side by side, the development and analysis of theology within these ethnic groups occurred independently of each other. That is to say, African-American and Hispanic/Latino(a) theologians and religious scholars have rarely inquired into the possibility and desirability of a cross-cultural dialogue between these two communities. Acknowledging both the previous lack of substantive dialogue and the present need for coalition among disadvantaged groups, five African-American and five Hispanic/Latino(a) theologians here explore their common historical and cultural heritage and their similar chronicle of struggle and affirmation. The aim is develop overarching meaning systems that encourage and sustain holistic imagination, notions of self and communal integrity, social activism, and solidarity. Among the topics treated are the core themes, concerns, and historical development of these two theologies; the roles played by scripture, tradition, imagination, and individual and collective experience; popular religion; Womanist and Mujerista theologies; ways of dealing with pain, suffering, and subjugation; and, finally, strategies for building bridges between communities of struggle.
Fire in Beulah by
Rilla Askew's newest novel, Fire in Beulah, set in the same heartland territory as The Mercy Seat, is a chronicle of race, greed, and moral choice in the tense days of the Oklahoma oil rush. At its center is the complex relationship between Althea Whiteside -- an oil wildcatter's high-strung wife who escaped from a hardscrabble childhood -- and her enigmatic black maid, Graceful. Both are caught in the relentless currents of family and violence. Their contrapuntal stories -- and those of others close to them -- unfold against a volatile backdrop of fear, hate, and lynchings that climax in the Tulsa race riot of 1921, during which whites burn the city's prosperous black section to the ground.
Trauma and Transcendence by
Trauma theory has become a burgeoning site of research in recent decades, often demanding interdisciplinary reflections on trauma as a phenomenon that defies disciplinary ownership. While this research has always been challenged by the temporal, affective, and corporeal dimensions of trauma itself, trauma theory now faces theoretical and methodological obstacles given its growing interdisciplinarity. Trauma and Transcendence gathers scholars in philosophy, theology, psychoanalysis, and social theory to engage the limits and prospects of trauma's transcendence. This volume draws attention to the increasing challenge of deciding whether trauma's unassimilable quality can be wielded as a defense of traumatic experience against reductionism, or whether it succumbs to a form of obscurantism. Contributors: Eric Boynton, Peter Capretto, Tina Chanter, Vincenzo Di Nicola, Ronald Eyerman, Donna Orange, Shelly Rambo, Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Hilary Jerome Scarsella, Eric Severson, Marcia Mount Shoop, Robert D. Stolorow, George Yancy.
Hope on the Brink: Understanding the Emergence of Nihilism in Black America by
African Americans have always wrestled with hopelessness. Yet in the face of hopelessness, African Americans fought for hope that America can be a land of equality, opportunity, and justice. The fight for hope has been difficult and has taken a toll on African Americans. Beyond the continuing injustices and inequities linked to systemic racism, they recognize a growing internal apathy in African Americans. This internal apathy is nihilism, the embrace of nothingness, meaninglessness, and internalized oppression. Nihilism has been slowly emerging since the 1980s and is the reason there is an increasing number of blacks who turn to defeating and destructive behaviors that only worsen their plight. In nihilism's wake, leaders and communities are left trying to help people who have turned on themselves and abandoned hope that things can get better.
Spiritual Care in an Age Of #BlackLivesMatter by
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 is the day that changed America. A Republican business mogul and reality television host who once proclaimed that if women didn't accept the intimate advancements of men, then men were could simply grab these women by a particularly sensitive extremity below their stomachs, snatched the electoral collegiate vote and since then has worked tirelessly on reversing President Barack Obama's progressive policies and pushing immigration legislation backwards. This vital resource guide incorporates the basic understandings of spiritual care with the current social, emotional, existential and spiritual needs of African Americans simply surviving in Trump's violent America. It's one-of-a-kind, offering specific spiritual care strategies and interventions for African Americans dealing with particular physical, social and emotional health challenges in the midst of rising statistics of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia leading to violence in the United States. Intended for anyone in academia or the helping professions, this comprehensive work benefits those seeking to provide spiritual care to African American hospital patients, counseling clients, church congregants and parishioners, military veterans, or returning service members. The contributors to this anthology are experts in their respective fields who offer a new, refreshing, and energizing perspective on important issues impacting African Americans.
Queer Religion by
This ground-breaking and eye-opening book examines the intersections of religion and same-sex desire, from St. Augustine to Hinduism to contemporary LGBT and queer culture.
Albert Cleage Jr. and the Black Madonna and Child by
In this collection, black religious scholars and pastors whose expertise range from theology, ethics, and the psychology of religion, to preaching, religious aesthetics, and religious education, discuss the legacy of Albert B. Cleage Jr. and the idea of the Black Madonna and child.
Black Religion after the Million Man March by
The Million Man March in Washington D.C. remains a major landmark in the journey of the African-American community. This text assess its impact, importance, and implications for the future in three major chapters.
The Edward Wimberly Reader: A Black Pastoral Theology by
The Civil Rights era was a time of national examination and a moment of great ferment within black churches. Their ministries required new expressions of pastoral theology and care. Soon after the emergence of Black Theology as an academic discourse, distinctively African American approaches to pastoral theology and care were articulated within theological education. Since 1979, Edward Powell Wimberly has been a distinguished and influential voice in the field of pastoral theology and care, especially in African American contexts. Wimberly's career has been dedicated to communicating the love of God for all people in the aftermath of America's original sinâracism. The Edward Wimberly Reader hosts a selection of Wimberly's most vital writings, beginning the important work of expanding the historical record in the field of pastoral theology and care to include the role of African American scholars. Wimberly's various works reflect his social and political engagements, spanning the arenas of congregation and community with a prophetic public theology. At the same time, Wimberly's constructive presentations of African American pastoral care inform pastoral theology methodologies through contextual and narrative approaches to counseling and restorative care practices. An essential collection for students and academics alike, The Edward Wimberly Reader communicates the convictions of a deeply faithful scholar, practitioner, and teacher who changed the conversation by stressing the importance of race, culture, and economics within contexts of pastoral care. Wimberly's corpus offers a faith-inspired vision of a more holistic and life-giving social order, where discrimination is redressed and communities of mutual concern support the flourishing of all.
Black Families in Therapy: Understanding the African-American Experience, 2nd Ed. by
This classic text helps professionals and students understand and address cultural and racial issues in therapy with African American clients. Leading family therapist Nancy Boyd-Franklin explores the problems and challenges facing African American communities at different socioeconomic levels, expands major therapeutic concepts and models to be more relevant to the experiences of African American families and individuals, and outlines an empowerment-based, multisystemic approach to helping clients mobilize cultural and personal resources for change.
Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: Race, Reparations and Reconciliation by
The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot was the country's bloodiest civil disturbance of the century. Thirty city blocks were burned to the ground, perhaps 150 died, and the prosperous black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma, was turned to rubble.Brophy draws on his own extensive research into contemporary accounts and court documents to chronicle this devastating riot, showing how and why the rule of law quickly eroded. Brophy shines his lights on mob violence and racism run amok, both on the night of the riot and the following morning.Equally important, he shows how the city government and police not only permitted looting, shootings, and the burning of Greenwood, but actively participated in it by deputizing white citizens haphazardly, giving out guns and badges, or sending men to arm themselves. Likewise, the National Guardacted unconstitutionally, arresting every black resident they found, leaving property vulnerable to the white mob.Brophy's stark narrative concludes with a discussion of reparations for victims of the riot through lawsuits and legislative action. That case has implications for other reparations movements, including reparations for slavery.
Liberating Our Dignity, Saving Our Souls by
In Lee Butler's own words, "This book is an attempt to answer the question, 'Who are we as African Americans?'" Attempting to answer this question is one way we participate in the works of salvation. Liberating Our Dignity, Saving Our Souls is a study of African American identity aimed at pointing a way out of a current crisis into a new liberation and salvation. Butler combines insights and methodologies from developmental psychology, liberation theology, and African American history to plot a new course for contemporary African Americans to gain a sense of identity that will guide them away from the identity the European and American cultures have traditionally forced upon them. This involves determining identity by personal worth; not by occupation, economic class, or social class.
Listen, My Son: Wisdom for African American Fathers by
Straight talk about what it means to be African American men. "Let's have a conversation. Let's talk man-to-man and brother-to-brother. Let's talk about how we grow into adults and what manhood means. Let's talk brother-to-brother and man-to-man about how we relate to one another as we grow into adults. Let's talk about what defines our maleness and our manhood. Let's talk brother-to-brother as African American men. Let's talk openly and honestly about what it means to be black men and American. We can no longer assume that we all know what it means to be African American men. This is a conversation that is long overdue. Let's talk together and listen to one another. This is our time to talk instead of being talked about. It is time for us to shed the unhealthy images and opinions that we have accepted as the standards of what it means to be Black men. The benefits of our talk will transform our souls as well as benefit all the girls and women in our lives." from the book
A Loving Home: Caring for African American Marriage and Families by