We continue our short look at the role of Christianity in the Black Community with a variety of short readings. Raboteau will look at the ways African religious practices became absorbed into Christian practices during the slave era. Douglass provides ample evidence of the way that religious faith strengthened Black arguments for the abolition of Slavery, though Southern slaveholders used theological arguments defending their practices. Genovese and Genovese show that the Patriarchal views of the slaveholding class significantly connected their attitudes towards blacks, women, and minors, and that uniformity of this world view is proof that the slaveholders were not hypocrites, even if their views were terribly wrongheaded. Our last four readings take us into the more recent past. Martin Luther King, Jr., needs no introduction to Americans today, even though he was assassinated over thirty years ago. His teachings provided much of the moral force behind the Civil Rights Movement, and Garrow's article will show that he was a good tactician as well as a charismatic leader. The National Council of Black Churchmen presents a more radical demand for black power in broad terms. On the other hand, James Baldwin looks back on his adolescence and records how pervasive white racism and sexism caused him to reject his religious beliefs as he moved into young adulthood. |
Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D. Office: Feinstein CAS 110 Or by Appointment Phone: (401) 254-3230 e-mail: mswanson@rwu.edu |
AMST 310 Varieties of Religious Experience Roger Williams University CAS 122 11:00 - 12:25 T, Th Spring, 2002 |
Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D. Office: Feinstein CAS 110 Or by Appointment Phone: (401) 254-3230 e-mail: mswanson@rwu.edu |
Religion in the Black and Ethnic Communities For Tuesday, April 23 Read, in Allitt, The Slave's Own Religion (Raboteau), pp.152 -158 6.7 Frederick Douglass Compares Southern Slaveowners' Religion with That of Jesus 1845, pp. 179-180 Slaveholders and the Bible (Genovese & Genovese) pp. 188-194 12.1 Martin Luther King, Jr. Preaches on the Power of Love, 1963 pp. 360-361 12.2 James Baldwin Becomes a Boy Preacher in Harlem (c. 1936), 1963 pp. 362-366 12.3 National Conference of Black Churchmen Demands Equal Power, 1966 pp. 366-367 Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Leadership (Garrow), pp. 379-384 |
We continue our short look at the role of Christianity in the Black Community with a variety of short readings. Raboteau will look at the ways African religious practices became absorbed into Christian practices during the slave era. Douglass provides ample evidence of the way that religious faith strengthened Black arguments for the abolition of Slavery, though Southern slaveholders used theological arguments defending their practices. Genovese and Genovese show that the Patriarchal views of the slaveholding class significantly connected their attitudes towards blacks, women, and minors, and that uniformity of this world view is proof that the slaveholders were not hypocrites, even if their views were terribly wrongheaded. Our last four readings take us into the more recent past. Martin Luther King, Jr., needs no introduction to Americans today, even though he was assassinated over thirty years ago. His teachings provided much of the moral force behind the Civil Rights Movement, and Garrow's article will show that he was a good tactician as well as a charismatic leader. The National Council of Black Churchmen presents a more radical demand for black power in broad terms. On the other hand, James Baldwin looks back on his adolescence and records how pervasive white racism and sexism caused him to reject his religious beliefs as he moved into young adulthood. |
For Thursday, April 25 Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States Read, in Corbett, Chapter 9, Ethnic Christianity, pp. 201-212 in Albanese, Chapter 9, East in West, Eastern Peoples and Eastern Religions, pp. 283-292 (through Orthodoxy in the United States) |
