Customer Reviews

Resurrection Song: African-American Spirituality (Bishop Henry McNeal Turner/Sojourner Truth Series in Black Religion)

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Dr. and Rev. Flora Wilson Bridges has written a brief, but deep academic study of African American religion. Those looking for a lay-level study of the history of African American Christianity will not find it here. Instead, they will find a text useful as a graduate level textbook. Further, they will find a focus not on Christianity per se, but on the link between African religious tradition and some segments of historic and current African American religion. At times this link seems forced, but still the work is valuable when read critically and in the context of the purpose and focus of the work.

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

I like when African American preachers write a book like this because it is like shocking to them that a lot of the things they believe in have their roots in African cultural tradition. Coming from a strong Christian household and my father being a preacher, I know when I presented certain facts and had it confirmed by historians, my father was shocked in a good way. I could see as a result, his understanding of things changed which made him more appreciative of African thought and philosophy. You see in the past (can I get a witness), the preachers condemned anything that was African, while they shouted (danced) in the pulpit. It is only when they saw other pastors like the ones on TBN network and saw that they didn't do that they tried to quell the Spirit and act all uppity. :)

This book does just that and you can hear in the authors' tone as they try and make sense why African Americans do some of the things they do, such as the belief in heaven. Most African Americans in the church belief in heaven is that they will see their ancestors when they die. It is simply a glorified version of the ancestral lands.

Anyway, all of this and more is written about within this book. Hope this was helpful.