Something Within: Religion in African-American Political Activism

ISBN-13: 9780195120332 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 240 str.

Fredrick C. Harris

Opis

One of the first book-length studies devoted to religion and African-American political activism in a generation, Something Within explores how Afro-Christianity, in various ways, promotes the political activism of African-Americans. Combining ethnography, history, contextual analysis, and survey research, this book illustrates the participatory effects of Afro-Christianity by examining its institutional, psychological, and cultural influences. Going beyond the opiate-inspiration debate that has dominated research on the subject, Author Fredrick C. Harris advances a new theory of religion as a political resource for a "civic culture in opposition."

Recenzje

W.E.B. Du Bois saw black religion and political activism in America as gifts that black people gave to America, thus nurturing its democratic practices and its soul in spite of the racism and rejection they faced. In considering both religion and political activism as interacting and multidimensional factors, Professor Harris provides a theoretically sophisticated and ethnographically rich window into the way the black church organizes and offers these gifts in contemporary society. Overall this book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the political implications of religion in a multi racial United States for the twenty first century.