Review
Men and women of god, religious institutions, faith, and spiritual symbolism have been a constant presence within the political struggles of black America. Using the intellectual biographies of a wide range of twentieth century leaders, Clarence Taylor exposes the kinship between African-American religious and secular traditions. With sensitive treatments of gender, race, and class, Taylor identifies religion as a medium of empowerment. Black Religious Intellectuals will excite a new conversation about the heterogenous religious currents in African-American intellectualism.
–Craig Steven Wilder, Professor of History, Dartmouth
Product Description
When assessing the legacy of black intellectuals in the 20th century there has been a general tendency to overlook the impact of black religious leaders. In
Black Religious Intellectuals and the Fight for Equality from the Age of Jim Crow to the Dawn of the 21st Century, Professor Clarence Taylor sheds some much-needed light on the rich intellectual and political tradition that lies in the black religious community. From the Pentecostalism of Bishop Smallwood Williams and the flamboyant leadership of the Reverend Al Sharpton, to the radical Presbyterianism of Milton Arthur Galamison and the controversial and mass-mobilization by Minister Louis Farrakhan, black religious leaders have figured prominently in the struggle for social equality in America.
Taylor shows how black leaders were able to carve out a space for religion as part of a progressive political agenda. Examining leaders from diverse religious and political backgrounds, he reveals the complex and innovative ways that black religious notions were continually reworked and reconstructed to accommodate the communities they served.
In the tradition of Cornel West, Hazel Carby, and Harold Cruse, Taylor gives us a valuable, though-provoking work that credits black church leadership for its important role in not only the fight for equality but also in shaping intellectual thought in this country.
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