Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America [Paperback]

Rebecca Moore (Editor), Anthony B. Pinn (Editor), Mary R. Sawyer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2004

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when more than 900 men, women, and children died in a ritual of murder and suicide in their utopianist community of Jonestown, Guyana. Only a handful lived to tell their story. As is well known, Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, was white, but most of his followers were black. Despite that, little has been written about Peoples Temple in the context of black religion in America. In 10 essays, writers from various disciplines address this gap in the scholarship. Twenty-five years after the tragedy at Jonestown, they assess the impact of the black religious experience on Peoples Temple.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America is an insightful, provocative and useful assemblage of essays, a vital contribution to the literature in its own right. One hopes that, in addition, the book will have the happy effect of generating still more scholarship and—not least of all—making way for the voices of more survivors, especially African Americans, to find their way into print." —The North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History

About the Author

Rebecca Moore, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, has published widely on Peoples Temple and Jonestown and maintains a website on Peoples Temple.

Anthony B. Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, and is the author of Varieties of African American Religious Experience.

Mary R. Sawyer is Professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University, and the author of Black Ecumenism: Implementing the Demands of Justice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (March 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253216559
• ISBN-13: 978-0253216557
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Religious and Theoretical Views of the People's Temple!, November 20, 2008

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This review is from: Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America (Paperback)

This book is edited by Dr. Rebecca Moore whose two sisters and nephew died in Jonestown on November 18, 1978; Anthony B. Pinn; and Mary R. Sawyer who all religious scholars. This book is not going to explain everything but it does link how the African American community (almost 80 percent of the People's Temple) relationship with Rev. James Warren Jones and his church through their beliefs. This book is not going to answer all your questions but it provides demographics and charts to explain the temple's population. This book really helps us humanize those who perished in Jonestown on November 18, 1978. This book has article written and researched by other religious scholars like Moore, Pinn, and Sawyer.
The title of the essays are "People's Temple as Black Religioin: Reimagining the Contours of Black Religious Studies" by Anthony B. Pinn; "Daddy Jones and Father Divine: The Cult as Political Religion" by C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya; "An Interpretation of People's Temple and JOnestown: Implications of a Black Church" by Archie Smith Jr.; "Demographics and the Black Religious Culture of People's Temple" by Dr. Rebecca Moore; "People's Temple and Housing Politics in San Francisco" by Tanya M. HOllis; "Jim Jones and Black Worship Traditions" by Milmon F. Harrison; "Breaking the Silence: Reflections of a Black Pastor" by J. Alfred Smith; "America Was Not Hard to Find" by Muhammed Isaiah Kenyatta; and "The Church in People's Temple" by Mary R. Sawyer. This book is critical in helping readers and researchers or people who are interested in the People's Temple; Rev. Jim Jones; and Jonestown on November 18, 1978.