African American religions, 1500-2000
Subtitle: colonialism, democracy, and freedom
By: Sylvester A. Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 424
ISBN-13: 9780521198530; 9780521157001
Subjects: Religion; African Americans; Church history
Description: "This book provides a narrative historical, postcolonial account of African American religions. It examines the intersection of Black religion and colonialism over several centuries to explain the relationship between empire and democratic freedom. Rather than treating freedom and its others (colonialism, slavery, and racism) as opposites, Sylvester A. Johnson interprets multiple periods of Black religious history to discern how Atlantic empires (particularly that of the United States) simultaneously enabled the emergence of particular forms of religious experience and freedom movements as well as disturbing patterns of violent domination. Johnson explains theories of matter and spirit that shaped early indigenous religious movements in Africa, Black political religion responding to the American racial state, the creation of Liberia, and FBI repression of Black religious movements in the twentieth century. By combining historical methods with theoretical analysis, Johnson explains the seeming contradictions that have shaped Black religions in the modern era." -- Publisher's description
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 407-418) and index.
Table of contents: title: Black Atlantic religion and Afro-European commerce --; title: On religious matters --; title: Colonial governance and religious subjectivity --; title: Stateless bodies, African missions, and the Black Christian settler colony --; title: Black political theology, White redemption, and soldiers for empire --; title: Garveyism, anticolonialism, and state repression of Black religions --; title: Fundamentalism, counterintelligence, and the "Negro rebellion" --; title: Black religion, the security state, and the racialization of Islam --; title: Conclusion: Black religion, freedom, and colonialism.