Customer Reviews

Free at Last?: The Gospel in the African-American Experience

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Though a little dated (over a decade old), "Free at Last" by Carl Ellis, Jr. provides an interesting and needed perspective on African American Christianity. A major premise contrasts militant secular approaches to black self help with Christian religious approaches to spiritual help. One of the most helpful connections made is between Frederick Douglass' view of Christianity and the needed modern view of Christianity. As a "patron saint" of African American history, Douglass shrewdly distinquished between the Christianity of the Bible/Christ and the hypocritical Christianity of the white slave owners. Ellis makes the astute observation that black secularist have been unable to make this same distinction and that failure led to the secularization of a large segment of reactionary black leaders. Not all may agree with Ellis' comparison, but all should ponder his penetrating insights.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

CARL, A MAN WHO LOVES GOD AND SEEKS TO OBEY HIM, TAKES A HARD LOOK AT THE PRACTICE OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY. HE LEVELS NEEDED CRITICISM AND INSTRUCTION. HE MAKES A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY AS A RELIGION AND FOLLOWING CHRIST AS A BELIEVER. IF CARL'S PROPHETIC VOICE IS HEEDED, WE WILL HAVE A STRONGER BODY WHICH WILL BRING GLORY TO GOD RATHER THAN CAUSE HIM TO HANG HIS HEAD IN SHAME BECAUSE OF OUR HYPOCRISY AND DIVISION.

Mr. Ellis retraces the efforts of African Americans to achieve freedom and dignity, in a Christian context. Each of these efforts have lacked something: the key to true deliverance. Unfortunately Mr. Ellis brings us to this realization and leaves us at the threshold of understanding the key to true deliverance.

And here is where we remain. From our reading of the work, we could not grasp what the key was or would be that would open the door and take us across the threshold. It is a complicated issue and in this work we did not find a sense of how it could be corrected, just a deepening sense of division.

As readers, we were left somewhat bewildered and confused by the work as a whole. In any event, he is to be congratulated for his efforts to provide leadership on such a difficult and troubling subject. Few have had the courage to do so.