As Anthony Pinn argues in his latest collection, humanism comes in many colors. When more attention is given to issues of race as connected to other forms of oppression, it is easier to see the manner in which humanism has lived and functioned within African American communities. Using the biblical figure Nimrod as symbol, African American Humanist Principles demonstrates African American humanists' intellectual and praxis-related grounding in a history of rebellion against over-determined and oppressive limitations on human doing and being. Pinn maintains that it is this quest for a fuller...

The biblical text and its key figures have played a prominent role in the development of religious discourse on pressing socio-political issues. Slavery and continued discrimination were given theological sanction through the Old Testament story of Ham, but what of his descendent Nimrod the hunter?

Pinn describes themes in the history of the Black Church as well as the major beliefs and forms of worship that define this tradition. He then focuses on the practices of the Black Church, especially as it has engaged in issues of economic development and justice, and struggles with such issues as the full inclusion of women, sexuality, and health. Throughout, Pinn highlights the important and creative tension between "spiritual" and "mundane" concerns to which the Black Church must respond and by which it is shaped.

Angell and Pinn have selected a set of lively and significant examples of social protest literature from A.M.E. Church periodicals and demonstrated that these newspapers and journals represent a critically important location in which African Americans debated vital questions of the day. Judith Weisenfeld, Barnard College
Although the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church has long been acknowledged as a crucial institution in African American life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, relatively little attention has been given to the ways in which the church s publications...

Description: Whether from established authors or by writers new to fiction, the short stories in this volume explore life as change, using Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as the lens. The writers come from different backgrounds, perspectives, and levels of familiarity with the short story, but what ties them together is a willingness to creatively explore the raw and more uncomfortable dimensions of life--big events and small happenings--all bound up by a recognition of the inevitability and (dis)comfort of change. Each writer has a story to tell, a creative and imaginative angle on life as it happens...

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.

This book considers how interdisciplinary conversation, critique, and collaboration enrich and transform humanities and social science education for those teaching and studying traditional Americanist fields.

The role in public life of religious organizations such as black churches has been a contested and heated topic, with their advocates calling for them to have a major place in public discourse and their critiques demanding their silence in public if not their total destruction. This book offers a creative and compelling way to think about this dilemma. Unlike some, it does not deny the effort on the part of such organizations to be involved in public discourse and public policy; instead, it argues this interest is insufficient. Drawing attention to the basic elements of organizations such as...

Description: What is the nature and purpose of the Black Church? What is the relationship of the scholar of religion to the Black Church? While black churches have been a major component of the religious landscape of African American communities for centuries, little critical attention has been given to these questions outside an apologetic stance. This book seeks to correct this trend by examining some of the major issues facing black churches in the twenty-first century. From a challenge to traditional ways of addressing sexism within black churches to African American Christianity's...