Author’s Introduction
Anthony B. Pinn
For a good number of years I taught a course on the “Varieties of African American Religion” in which students were introduced to a good number of religious traditions embraced by African Americans. Students were often confused by the diversity of opinions and beliefs, and were a bit thrown by the tensions between these various traditions – particularly when they tried to view all the course materials through their own convictions. Class discussions revolved around at least one question: “how can all this be African American religion?”
A similar question has served as motivation for much of what I have taught and researched over the past two decades. I have been concerned with mapping out the nature and meaning of African American religion in part by exposing the complex religious landscape in African American communities. My effort has been to do so through attention to the history of various traditions, the theologies held by these traditions, the practices embraced by them, and the aesthetics or general style of expression and exchange marking them. I began with African American Christian churches, the major religious tradition within African American communities, but it did not take long to notice that these churches exist within the context of other traditions – responding to them, arguing against them, learning from them. In fact, for example, many Christians also give attention to root work, conjure and hoodoo. And African American Christians are aware of Voodoo (called Vodou in Haiti), Santeria (“Regla de Ocha”), and Islam among other traditions.
Furthermore, these various traditions have claimed the imagination and allegiance of African Americans. Granted, the number of adherents within these other traditions does not match the number of African Americans who claim some version of the Christian Church; but, they are important nonetheless and I wanted to learn something about them. And I wanted my students to learn something about them. I wanted my students to appreciate the importance of Christianity, but to place Christian churches within the context of other religious traditions present within African American communities.
In mapping out these traditions, Christianity and the others, I also needed to be sensitive to both their claims/beliefs and their practices – both the points of promise and their flaws. For example, I needed to give attention to their engagement with the larger world – the ways in which they mirrored the sexism and homophobia of society for instance, but also their efforts to combat racism and economic injustice. It was important to give attention to how believers interact physically within the context of formal gatherings but also how they made use of technology to advance their faith claims.
Several things became clear to me through this work . For example, “movement” was clearly important for these various traditions. This included the Middle Passage, the Great Migration, and the reshaping of urban environments that informed and affected the teachings and practices of so many religious traditions. The human body – the bio-chemical reality that is born, grows, ages, and dies – has been a resource for these traditions, but it also has promoted tension and concern for some of these traditions, particularly churches. That is to say, for Christian churches, the body has been understood as the source of sin, the very thing that prevents closeness to God. Yet, it also serves as the place from which the religious worship and act out their faith in connection to others. Furthermore, spaces used for worship or practice shift and change; they are marked by particular symbols and images that represent key themes and points the faith community faith seeks to communicate. And, these symbols and images are not disconnected from socio-political concerns within the larger society. For example, the civil rights struggles and black power philosophy generated new theologies but also encouraged a re-thinking of Jesus Christ (and God) as looking like African Americans. The Nation of Islam’s understanding of God also privileges blackness in part as a corrective to the negative depictions of African Americans marking public and private conversations, policies, and social relations in the United States. The list goes on, but what has been clear through all of this exploring is the manner in which even these very different traditions have some basic concerns and goals that are shared. They differ in terms of discrete doctrine, creeds, and practices. That is to say, the ways in which they express their beliefs differ just as these beliefs differ. Yet, there is at least one commonality that cuts through these various traditions that suggest a common human objective: African American religion – despite differences in expressions – is concerned with questions of life meaning, and works to forge greater life meaning.
Mindful of this, the chapters do not provide an institutional history of particular traditions. There are plenty of books available to students that provide attention to the development of religious traditions in African American communities through an outlining of the creation of institutions, as well as the careful outlining of theologies, doctrines and creeds. Students have access to those books, but I wanted to do something different with this book. And this involves attention to a different theory of African American religion as well as an approach to this book involving the use of multiple methods of study, including theology, history, and cultural studies. This allows readers the ability to look at African American religion from a variety of angles, and using source materials that others might not consider important enough to consider. When pulled together, the goal of this book is not to provide outlines of the traditions that dominate African American communities – nor a mere rehearsal of the creeds and rituals that mark them. These things are mentioned at points throughout the various chapters, but I am much more concerned with providing a story of African American religion that seeks to show how the fostering of life meaning gets played out in relationship to slavery, continued discrimination, socio-political struggle and in connection to key issues such as sex, gender, sexuality, politics, key cultural developments, and so on. Much of this is filtered through a central question: what is it about the thinking and practices of these various traditions that tie them to the quest for greater life meaning? Answering this question does not always provide a positive story of growth and progress. There are just as many times when African American religion does damage to particular groups not part of the “in crowd.” But neatness is not my concern; the nature of human need for life meaning and the messy effort to address this need is the point here. Humans who are capable of great good and great harm people these traditions. The story of African American religion, as is the case for religion in other communities as well, must point out both.
Regardless of the particular perspective, religion seems to matter; and it changes and shifts to address (not always well) human needs and wants. Belief and disbelief both fit into this framework.
This exploration of African American religion will not answer all questions. What study could? Instead, it is my hope this introduction to African American religion will point out the primary goal of competing faith claims and also, and this is important, demonstrate how religiosity – for good or ill – infiltrates and impacts all areas of human life.