Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood (Morality and Society Series) (Hardcover)

by Omar M. McRoberts (Author) "Most observers will agree that religious institutions are woven deeply into the physical and social fabric of the city..." (more)
Key Phrases: exilic frame, religious district, migrant churches, Four Corners, Church of God, Codman Square (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"If we are truly interested in contemporary community life and civil society, we will want to know how churches actually work in depressed urban areas. There is no better study available on this volatile subject than this one, required reading for all would-be policy makers and citizens." - Peter J. Gomes, Boston Globe"

Product Description

Long considered the lifeblood of urban African American neighborhoods, churches are held up as institutions dedicated to serving their surrounding communities. Omar McRoberts's work in Four Corners, however, reveals a very different picture. One of the toughest neighborhoods in Boston, Four Corners also contains twenty-nine churches, mostly storefront congregations, within its square half-mile radius. In McRoberts's hands, this area teaches a startling lesson about the relationship between congregations and neighborhoods that will be of interest to everyone concerned with the revitalization of the inner city.

McRoberts finds, for example, that most of the churches in Four Corners are attended and run by people who do not live in the neighborhood but who worship there because of the low overhead. These churches, McRoberts argues, are communities in and of themselves, with little or no attachment to the surrounding area. This disconnect makes the churches less inclined to cooperate with neighborhood revitalization campaigns and less likely to respond to the immediate needs of neighborhood residents. Thus, the faith invested in inner-city churches as beacons of local renewal might be misplaced, and the decision to count on them to administer welfare definitely should be revisited.

As the federal government increasingly moves toward delivering social services through faith-based organizations, Streets of Glory must be read for its trenchant revisionist view of how churches actually work in depressed urban areas.

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Product Details Hardcover: 186 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 2003) Language: English ISBN-10: 0226562166 ISBN-13: 978-0226562162 Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,248,078 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
Most observers will agree that religious institutions are woven deeply into the physical and social fabric of the city. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
exilic frame, religious district, migrant churches, neighborhood collective action, particularistic spaces, transformative activism, vacant commercial spaces, religious ecology, religious particularism, congregational growth, commercial storefronts, niche church, institutional completeness, neighborhood attachments, host neighborhood, frame extension, immigrant congregations, root workers, recruitment ground, neighborhood affairs, neighborhood concerns, southern migrants, religious presence, transformative work

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Four Corners, Church of God, Codman Square, South End, African American, West Indians, Action Coalition, Holy Ghost, United States, Holy Road, Black Belt, Christ Church, Planning Committee, West End, Washington Street, Four Comers, Charles Street, Good Tidings, Lower Roxbury, Black Boston, Divine Peace, Azusa Christian Community, Holy Fullness, Pastor Pride, Baker House

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 78 books:

• The Ministry of Healing by Ellen Gould Harmon White in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The Living is Easy by Dorothy West on page 35, and Back Matter
• The Holy Spirit by Garth Black on page 67, and page 119
• The Seventh Day: A Shabbat Story (General Jewish Interest) by Deborah Bodin Cohen on page 53, and page 102
• Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations (Religion in America) by N. J. Demerath III in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

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12 books cite this book:

• Rooted in Place: Family and Belonging in a Southern Black Community by William W. Falk in Back Matter
• T.D. Jakes: America's New Preacher by Shayne Lee in Back Matter
• How the Other Half Worships by Camilo Jose Vergara in Back Matter
• The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith by Alan Wolfe in Back Matter
• Every Time I Feel the Spirit: Religious Experience and Ritual in an African American Church (Qualitative Studies in Religion) by Timothy Nelson in Back Matter

See all 12 books citing this book

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas

Discusses:

• vacant commercial spaces
• southern migrants
• Codman Square

People of the Dream by Michael O. Emerson

Discusses:

• congregational growth
• niche church
• immigrant congregations

Congregation and Community by Nancy Tatom Ammerman

Discusses:

• particularistic spaces
• religious ecology
• immigrant congregations

Handbook of the Sociology of Religion by Michele Dillon

Discusses:

• transformative activism
• vacant commercial spaces
• commercial storefronts

Remaking Respectability by Victoria W. Wolcott

Discusses:

• migrant churches
• southern migrants
• African American

Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas Discusses: vacant commercial spaces southern migrants Codman Square People of the Dream by Michael O. Emerson Discusses: congregational growth niche church immigrant congregations Congregation and Community by Nancy Tatom Ammerman Discusses: particularistic spaces religious ecology immigrant congregations Handbook of the Sociology of Religion by Michele Dillon Discusses: transformative activism vacant commercial spaces commercial storefronts Loading...

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, July 30, 2003 By A Customer This is the most important study of black urban religious life in a long time, and University of Chicago sociologist Omar McRoberts gives us a lot to think about here. The book focuses on Four Corners, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Boston composed of Holiness-Pentecostal-Apostolic and "mainline" (Baptist, Catholic, and United Methodist) congregations but also numerous black Caribbean and Hispanic immigrant churches. There are so many churches in the neighborhood that it is what McRoberts calls a "religious district"--a depressed area where vacant commercial spaces provide space for religious institutions looking for property with cheap rent. One might expect that the sheer religious presence of all these churches would help turn a poor neighborhood around quickly, but apparently most of the people coming on Sunday are commuters from other parts of the city who feel little responsibility for the area their churches happen to be in. That leaves community activists, local politicians, and the efforts of some concerned ministers and laity to try and save Four Corners. It is a story that may be found in similar urban areas all across the country, and Streets of Glory helps us understand their particular nature, problems, and possible future. McRoberts is a tremendous scholar and writer--an authoritative and imaginative new voice in urban sociology, and a keen observer of the highest order. This is ethnography at its best, and it will be a classic on many reading lists for years to come... 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars vital contribution, September 28, 2006 By  Shayne Lee (Houston (by way of New Orleans)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    It's difficult to express how important a contribution Streets of Glory is to the sociology of religion as well as to black religion. He really helped us understand how the black church relates to the vicissitudes of urban life in ways that were previously unexplored. He reveals how a black urban locality can be saturated with churches and yet fail miserably in disabusing the socio-economic challenges of that locality because many of those churches don't identify with the community. In other words, they're choosing localities based on low overhead, so they don't invest in or develop solidarity with the surrounding community. If we were looking to the church to solve urban problems, McRoberts let's us know that maybe we better look elsewhere. This is a monumental contribution and is why many people are referring to McRoberts as the next "C.Eric Lincoln. 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading on Afro-American Religion, November 26, 2003 By  Michael H. Montgomery "montcts" (Oak Lawn, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This is essential reading in any study or class in the sociology of religion more broadly put, or especially the "Black Church" or Black Liberation Theology. McRoberts demonstrates the vitality and variety of at least this 'corner' of African-American church life.		Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars Solid scholarship -- dry read. How the author of this book can take something so rich, dramatic, lush, vibrant, controversial, dynamic, powerful, human, and compelling -- black urban religious life -- and write... Read more Published on July 26, 2003 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226562166
• ISBN-13: 978-0226562162
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,248,078 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

This is the most important study of black urban religious life in a long time, and University of Chicago sociologist Omar McRoberts gives us a lot to think about here.

The book focuses on Four Corners, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Boston composed of Holiness-Pentecostal-Apostolic and "mainline" (Baptist, Catholic, and United Methodist) congregations but also numerous black Caribbean and Hispanic immigrant churches. There are so many churches in the neighborhood that it is what McRoberts calls a "religious district"--a depressed area where vacant commercial spaces provide space for religious institutions looking for property with cheap rent. One might expect that the sheer religious presence of all these churches would help turn a poor neighborhood around quickly, but apparently most of the people coming on Sunday are commuters from other parts of the city who feel little responsibility for the area their churches happen to be in. That leaves community activists, local politicians, and the efforts of some concerned ministers and laity to try and save Four Corners. It is a story that may be found in similar urban areas all across the country, and Streets of Glory helps us understand their particular nature, problems, and possible future.

McRoberts is a tremendous scholar and writer--an authoritative and imaginative new voice in urban sociology, and a keen observer of the highest order. This is ethnography at its best, and it will be a classic on many reading lists for years to come...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars vital contribution, September 28, 2006

By	Shayne Lee (Houston (by way of New Orleans)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's difficult to express how important a contribution Streets of Glory is to the sociology of religion as well as to black religion. He really helped us understand how the black church relates to the vicissitudes of urban life in ways that were previously unexplored. He reveals how a black urban locality can be saturated with churches and yet fail miserably in disabusing the socio-economic challenges of that locality because many of those churches don't identify with the community. In other words, they're choosing localities based on low overhead, so they don't invest in or develop solidarity with the surrounding community. If we were looking to the church to solve urban problems, McRoberts let's us know that maybe we better look elsewhere. This is a monumental contribution and is why many people are referring to McRoberts as the next "C.Eric Lincoln.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading on Afro-American Religion, November 26, 2003

By	Michael H. Montgomery "montcts" (Oak Lawn, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is essential reading in any study or class in the sociology of religion more broadly put, or especially the "Black Church" or Black Liberation Theology. McRoberts demonstrates the vitality and variety of at least this 'corner' of African-American church life.