African-American Interest
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Were You There
$17.00Add to cartValuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ways in which those events bring about the liberation of God’s people.
In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christ’s atoning death and victory over the grave. Each selection includes the lyrics of the spiritual, a reflection by the author on the spiritual’s meaning, a Scripture verse related to that meaning, and a brief prayer.
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Sojourners Truth : Choosing Freedom And Courage In A Divided World
$18.99Add to cartPreface
Part I: Formation
1. Pain: Truth Is, Your Identity Can Get You Into Hot Water
2. Grace: Truth Is, Women Are The Unsung Heroes In This World
3. Community: Truth Is, There Is No Place Like Home
4. Purpose: Truth Is, Winners Don’t Quit On ThemselvesPart II: History
5. Consciousness: Truth Is, It’s Time To Wake Up
6. Deliverance: Truth Is, Freedom Comes To Those Who Demand It
7. Trust: Truth Is, We Have A Money ProblemPart III: Wilderness
8. Anger: Truth Is, There’s Something That Can Kill You
9. Death: Truth Is, Remembering Can Bring Us Together
10. Humility: Truth Is, There Is Hope Worth Holding On To
11. War: Truth Is, We Must Prepare To FightPart IV: Redemption
12. Live: Truth Is, We Can Find A Way Out Of The Wilderness
13. Build: Truth Is, You Need The Right People And The Right Perspective
14. Heal: Truth Is, Love Will Lead Us Home
15. Light: Truth Is, Beauty Can Come From Ashes
16. Home: Truth Is, We Need Courage To Live Redeemed
NotesAdditional Info
In A Sojourner’s Truth we are drawn into the journey of a young African American girl from South Carolina to the United States Naval Academy and then into a calling as a speaker, mentor, writer, and teacher.Intertwined with Natasha Sistrunk Robinson’s story is the story of Moses, a leader who was born into a marginalized people group, resisted injustices of Pharaoh, denied the power of Egypt, and trusted God even when he did not fully understand or know where he was going. Along the way we courageously explore the spiritual and physical tensions of truth-telling, character and leadership development, and bridge building across racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender lines.
You are invited to bring along your story as well-to discover your own identity, explore your truth-revealing moments, live unafraid, and gain a deeper sense of purpose.
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Exodus Preaching : Crafting Sermons About Justice And Hope
$23.99Add to cartExodus Preaching is the first of its kind. It is an exploration of the African American prophetic rhetorical traditions in a manner that makes features of these traditions relevant to a broad audience beyond the African American traditions. It provides readers a composite picture of the nature, meaning, and relevance of prophetic preaching as spoken Word of justice and hope in a society of growing pluralism and the world-shaping phenomenon of racial, economic and cultural diversity. African American preachers have distinctively invested great symbolic significance in the Exodus story, the messianic witness of Jesus, and the prophetic literature for developing and shaping prophetic sermons. Kenyatta Gilbert demonstrates how four distinctive features of discourse can shape sermon preparation, for effective preaching in a period of intense social change, racial unrest, and violence. Gilbert includes dozens of practical suggestions and five practical exercises to equip the reader for preaching in new ways and in new environments. He offers an holistic approach, fully equipping the reader with the theological and practical resources needed to preach prophetically.
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Voices In The Wilderness
$48.00Add to cartFINALLY, a scholarly description of the development of Black preaching in the United States that is accessible to the average reader, but also contributes to the academic conversation about both style and theological content. Written from the perspective of a seasoned practitioner and tenured practical theologian, Thomas surveys Black preaching as it has responded to various social and historical time periods. Starting with the brutality of chattel slavery, early formations in segregated Southern life, rapid migration to and urbanization in Northern cities, and various events throughout the post-civil rights era, the book gives convincing details and examples of how the Black preacher helped to guide and sustain the masses of African American people through the wilderness of social change. At the heart of the book, three prime examples are presented as models of the real “”genius”” of Black preaching. The reader will never again think about Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson in the same way. A special chapter is devoted to the contributions of Black women preachers along with a closing chapter that makes new proposals for the future. The book is a provocative and critical analysis of why Black preaching still matters.
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Voices In The Wilderness
$28.00Add to cartFINALLY, a scholarly description of the development of Black preaching in the United States that is accessible to the average reader, but also contributes to the academic conversation about both style and theological content. Written from the perspective of a seasoned practitioner and tenured practical theologian, Thomas surveys Black preaching as it has responded to various social and historical time periods. Starting with the brutality of chattel slavery, early formations in segregated Southern life, rapid migration to and urbanization in Northern cities, and various events throughout the post-civil rights era, the book gives convincing details and examples of how the Black preacher helped to guide and sustain the masses of African American people through the wilderness of social change. At the heart of the book, three prime examples are presented as models of the real “”genius”” of Black preaching. The reader will never again think about Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson in the same way. A special chapter is devoted to the contributions of Black women preachers along with a closing chapter that makes new proposals for the future. The book is a provocative and critical analysis of why Black preaching still matters.
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Becoming Married Staying Married
$20.00Add to cartIt’s easy to fall in love and to get married. But what does it really mean to be married? And how do you stay married?
In Becoming Married, Staying Married, couples will be encouraged to see marriage as a process that never ends. Together they will reflect on current realities particular to African American couples. They will also discover nine key principles that are required for healthy marriages, including concepts like self-awareness, flexibility, maturity, and forgiveness. Practical suggestions on how to further enhance each quality are included, in addition to African proverbs and biblical Scripture that relate to marriage. Questions for discussion and reflection are included at the end of each chapter.
This insightful resource can be used by African American couples at various stages of their relationship, but it is especially helpful to engaged and newly married couples. Pastor may also choose to use this book as a discussion starter for premarital counseling.
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Insights From African American Interpretation
$29.00Add to cartSeries Foreword
1. Introducing African American Interpretation
2. Twentieth-Century Foundations
3. African American Biblical Interpretation In The Early Twenty-First Century
4. Slavery, Torture, Systemic Oppression, And Kingdom Rhetoric: An African American Reading Of Matthew 25:1-13
5. Dis-membering, Sexual Violence, And Confinement: A Womanist Intersectional Reading Of The Story Of The Levite’s Wife (Judges 19)Bibliography
IndexAdditional Info
Each volume in the Insights series discusses discoveries and insights gained into biblical texts from a particular approach or perspective in current scholarship. Accessible and appealing to today’s students, each Insight volume discusses how this method, approach, or strategy was first developed and how its application has changed over time; what current questions arise from its use; what enduring insights it has produced; and what questions remain for future scholarship.Mitzi J. Smith describes the distinctive African American experience of Scripture, from slavery to Black Liberation Theology and beyond, and the unique angles of perception that an intentional African American interpretation brings to the text for a contemporary generation of scholars. Smith shows how questions of race, ethnicity, and the dynamics of “othering” have been developed in African American biblical scholarship, resulting in new reading of particular texts. Further, Smith describes challenges that scholarship raises for the future of biblical interpretation generally.
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Role Of Faith And Religion In The Life Of African Americans
$10.00Add to cartAfrican-Americans who are highly involved in religion have fewer family problems than those who are not involved. The youths in these families have better emotional control and greater involvement in positive, productive activities.
This book is a discussion of the history of African-Americans–through hundreds of years of cruelty and brutality in slavery, war, and segregation–and the role of Christian faith and churches in helping black people survive and overcome such enormous challenges. These facts offer powerful testament to the role of faith and religion in the lives of African-Americans.
Encouragement, hope, faith, and determination will help us receive what God has for us if we serve Him! Author Florence Van Liew Crain hopes and prays that those who think they cannot make it will be able to get up, brush themselves off, and move forward.
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Purple Pennies
$11.99Add to cartSometimes, things are not what they seem, and the things that we carve the most are not always what we need. This story is centered around the life of a young lady named Trish who from the looks of things has it all: a great job, an ideal marriage, nice house, and other luxuries of life. But it’s not until she fights her way to the top that she actually realizes how lonely being at the top can be.
As life would have it, it’s through a weird twists of events that she gets the chance to see her marriage, her career, and her life for what it really is, a sham of happiness coated with a tint of perfection.
In just 48 hours, she gets the opportunity to have a second chance at life, happiness, and love.
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Introduction To African American Preaching
$38.99Add to cartThis book by Frank A. Thomas serves as an introduction and primer on African American preaching. He sets out to answer six questions: 1) What is the historical study and scholarly treatment of black preaching? The formal study of black preaching matured in the 1990s from Abingdon Press, through the books Black Preaching by Henry Mitchell (Interdenominational Theological Center) and The Hum by Evans Crawford (Howard University). The initial chapter traces how and why black preaching evolved. 2) What is black preaching? What makes black preaching distinctive? What are the substantive methodologies and content of black preaching? Does black preaching include the preaching of the African Diaspora or is it limited to American shores? How does black preaching correlate with the preaching methodologies of other communities, i.e. Euro-American, Latino/Latina, Korean, etc. 3) What are the benchmarks of excellence in black preaching? In every preaching tradition, models and styles or examples emerge based on community recognition and acclaim within the cultural preaching tradition. These models are built on criteria that point to “excellence” in oral practice. The goal in the classroom is to surface conscious and unconscious codes of excellence, which the student can then adapt in a particular congregation. 4) What methods are practiced in African American preaching? Three methods are explored from “folk” and “educated” preaching. Methods of “old-time Negro Preaching,” are compared to the Hegelian method of Samuel DeWitt Proctor and the celebrative preaching method of Henry H. Mitchell, Frank A. Thomas, and Luke Powery. 5) What are the future trends in black preaching? What cultural and media forces are changing black preaching? 6) What are the best bibliographic resources in African American preaching?
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Rethinking Celebration : From Rhetoric To Praise In African American Preach
$28.00Add to cart“This book is a clarion call for African American preachers to think more deeply about the aims and ends of their preaching-namely to stop putting so much emphasis on celebratory endings to our sermons and focus more on the substantive content in our sermons. Our so-called celebratory preaching, designed to excite the congregation into action through a highly emotional closing of the sermon, has had the opposite effect. Rather than inducing action, it has lulled generations of black congregants to sleep. While we are jumping up and down, shouting, and waving our hands in the air every Sunday during the worship hour, we seem not to notice the growing number of churched and unchurched alike who are becoming powerfully alienated from any form of institutional religion.”
-from the introduction“Celebration” is a term that has long been used to describe African American preaching, characterized by content that affirms the goodness and powerful intervention of God as well as style that builds from quiet beginnings to an emotionally rich crescendo in conclusion. Cleophus J. LaRue argues that while celebration is one of African American preaching’s greatest gifts to the larger church, too many black preachers have become content with the form of celebration-volume, vocabulary, pitch, speed, rhythm, and the like-to the neglect of its essence-the proclamation of the mighty acts of God in the lives of their congregations and communities. This kind of preaching, LaRue contends, fails to address the ongoing problems of the African American community and is powerless to prevent the growing disaffection of black America with the black church. In words both prophetic and practical, LaRue suggests ways to improve black preaching that honor both the form and the power of the African American homiletical practice of celebration. Preachers will learn how to use celebration more selectively and as part of a fully formed preaching practice rather than as a means of distracting the congregation from pressing social and theological questions. The book includes six illustrative sermons from LaRue as well as Paschal Sampson Wilkinson Sr., Brian K. Blount, and Claudette Anderson Copeland.
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Crossover Preaching : Intercultural Improvisational Homiletics In Conversat
$45.99Add to cartAcknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: “Time Is Filled With Swift Transition”
1. Gardner C. Taylor: Case Study In Crossover Preaching
2. Turning Ink To Blood: Performative Improvisation
3. Rooted, But Not Restricted: Metaphorical Improvisation
4. Transgressing The Divides: Intercultural Competence
5. Putting Flesh To Bones: Homiletical Strategies
Conclusion: Crossing La Frontera (the Border)
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject IndexAdditional Info
As society becomes more culturally diverse and globally connected, churches and seminaries are rapidly changing. And as the church changes, preaching must change too.Crossover Preaching proposes a way forward through conversation with the “dean of the nation’s black preachers,” Gardner C. Taylor, senior pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. In this richly interdisciplinary study, Jared E. Alcantara argues that an analysis of Taylor’s preaching reveals an improvisational-intercultural approach that recovers his contemporary significance and equips U. S. churches and seminary classrooms for the future.
Alcantara argues that preachers and homileticians need to develop intercultural and improvisational proficiencies to reach an increasingly intercultural church. Crossover Preaching equips them with concrete practices designed to help them cultivate these competencies and thus communicate effectively in a changing world.
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Reflect Reclaim Rejoice Study Guide
$7.99Add to cartThis small-group study serves as a companion resource for the 2015 Emmy-winning DVD, Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice: Preserving the Gift of Black Sacred Music. Four centuries ago, Blacks enslaved in America created a music form that gave solace even during the most inhumane conditions. Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice: Preserving the Gift of Black Sacred Music traces the music’s history and invites readers to see and experience the ways it is being kept alive.
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Breaking Bread Breaking Beats
$29.00Add to cartContents:
Getting Started
1. Moments In The History Of Black Churches And Hip-Hop
2. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And The Body
3. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, Race, And Ethnicity
4. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Poverty
5. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Gender
6. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Sexuality
7. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Ethics
8. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Globalization
9. A Relationship Between Black Churches And Hip-Hop?
10. The Cipher
The CERCL Writing Collective Members
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
NotesAdditional Info
What is hip-hop, and how does it impact the Black Church? How does the Black Church integrate hip-hop? How do black churches think about hip-hop? How do these different, yet deeply interrelated communities think about the key topics of modern life-be it gender, sex, race, or globalization?These questions and more are the concern of the CERCL Writing Collective, under the mentorship of Anthony Pinn. In this innovative project, ten individuals write as one voice to illuminate the ways that hip-hop and the Black Church agree, disagree, and inform each other on key topics.
This book grows out of the popular religion and Hip-Hop course, soon to be offered as an open enrollment online course, at Rice University by Anthony B. Pinn and Bernard ‘Bun B’ Freeman. Like the course, the book offers engaging insights into one of today’s most important musical genres and reflects on its broad cultural impact.
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Forward Together : A Moral Message For The Nation
$19.99Add to cart14 Chapters
Additional Info
In 2013, after seven years of grassroots organizing, “Moral Mondays” grabbed the nation’s attention as thousands protested North Carolina’s General Assembly in Raleigh in support of the poor, voting rights, health care, immigrant rights, and other issues. Over 13 consecutive weeks, the protests against legislative extremism resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,000 people, making it one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in U.S. history. As thousands more gathered in support each Monday, Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, became widely recognized as the leader of a new civil rights movement in the South. More than 100 “Forward Together-Moral Monday” connected events have since taken place, and the spirit of the movement has spread to Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, and New York.This reflection on the movement’s beginnings introduces Barber, the sources of his courage from both a biblical imagination for justice and a deep connection to “fusion” civil rights history, and the inspiring story of the Southern freedom movement’s revival. Barber invites readers into a big-tent, faith-based movement for justice that has room for black, white, and brown, gay and straight, rich and poor, old and young, Republicans and Democrats, people from all walks of life. Offering his unique analysis of what he has called the “Third Reconstruction,” Barber locates North Carolina’s struggle in the spiritual and political landscape of 21st-century America. With civil rights and social justice battles with a deep moral narrative, particularly in southern statehouses that then move to federal courts on appeal, what happens in North Carolina can shift the center of gravity in political discourse, debate, and decision-and thereby change the nation.
“Messages of moral dissent are designed not to just be spoken and heard but to shape the prophetic consciousness of a movement and of society,” says Barber. “The prophetic voice rises when government systems and sometimes even religious systems have abdicated their responsibility to the least of these. When the forces of extremism have become so overwhelming and have depressed the hope of the people, the prophetic voice and mission is to connect words and actions in ways that build restorative hope so that there can be a movement for restorative justice. So this book is an attempt to capture the practice of ‘preaching’ in the public square, which is where pr
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Mary Had A Baby (Revised)
$14.99Add to cartIn this 2014 revised edition, Mary Had a Baby has four sessions, one for each week of Advent, and is perfect for small groups, Sunday School, mid-week sessions, and choir workshops. Each lesson utilizes Scripture, song lyrics, devotional and contextual information, and discussion questions to stimulate deepening faith and a sense of community. The four spirituals featured are “Mary Had a Baby,” “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow,” “Children, Go Where I Send Thee,” and “Go, Tell It on the Mountain.”
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Child Shall Lead Them
$19.00Add to cartForeword
Preface
Introduction
1. Montgomery: Just To See Empty Bus, After Empty Bus Go By
2. Sitting-in And Riding For Freedom
3. Birmingham And The Children’s Crusade
4. Mississippi: Made To Disappear
5. Selma: What We Talk About Has Also To Do With The Children
6. Who Will Carry The Freedom Struggle Forward?
Notes
IndexAdditional Info
Half a century after some of its most important moments, the assessment of the Civil Rights Era continues. In this exciting volume, Dr. Rufus Burrow turns his attention to a less investigated but critically important byway in this powerful story-the role of children and young people in the Civil Rights Movement.What role did young people play, and how did they support the efforts of their elders? What did they see-and what did they do?-that their elders were unable to envision? How did children play their part in the liberation of their people?
In this project, Burrow reveals the surprising power of youth to change the world.
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Liberating Black Church History
$20.99Add to cart“No serious scholar in biblical studies today can introduce students to his or her field without taking into account the contributions of African American scholarship. The long traditions of biblical interpretation in the black church, and the innovative research and writing performed by African-American scholars in recent years are now essential components of a critical study of the Bible.
Yet up to now, knowing how best to introduce the fruits of African American biblical scholarship to students, particularly those in the survey class, has been difficult. Good resources exist, yet too often they were not written with the needs of introductory students in mind. This book meets that need by providing an overview of the most important developments in African American approaches to biblical scholarship. Written with the needs of beginning students in mind, it will offer insight into the particular ways that African American scholarship has shaped the world of biblical study.”
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Help It Still Hurts
$23.99Add to cartWhen the relationship between the pastor and the congregation is good, the hope of the congregation is that the pastor never leaves from serving the church. The reality of the Scripture and life reveals that serving a church forever is not possible. Transition is an inevitable phenomenon.
Cynthia Hinson Graham remembers being sad as a child when her pastor did not return to church after his illness. She recalls, “The church never came together as a family to talk about what happened or how they felt.” Forty years later, the senior pastor at her church announced his retirement, but offered no guidance “for the church family to come together and process their reactions or responses to the impending transition.”
In this study, Hinson Graham examines how a congregation deals spiritually and emotionally with the loss of its long-time pastor, as well as how the exiting pastor should prepare for his or her departure. She focuses on five independent African-American churches, which are significant because they were led by a single senior pastor, rather than by a board of governance or denominational order.
During her research, Hinson Graham explored the answers to four core questions: What were the spiritual and emotional responses to the transition of a long-term pastor? How were congregants able to express these feelings? What mindsets were most common when faced with the transition? And what, if any, processes were followed to ease the transition for the church body?
The author acknowledges the logical concern with the reasons for the current pastor’s departure and the uncertainty concerning the incoming pastor, but these are before and after issues. The emotional and spiritual well-being of church members during the transition, however, is of concern here. In a clear and approachable voice, Hinson Graham cites extensive biblical precedents for managing such matters.
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If God Be For Us
$12.49Add to cartThe Black Church will survive because it is all about faith and family. The Black Church is not simply a crowd of people that gather in a centralized location on Sunday mornings. For many, the Black Church is viewed as an extension of one’s immediate family. This extension of family is what gives the congregation a sense of community. I’m the grandson of a pastor. I grew up in the pews of the Baptist church. As a result, I have many mothers and aunts and uncles who are not blood relatives. But then again, they are blood relatives. They are my mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, uncle and aunt in the Lord. As our churches grow in number, we must also grow in ministry. The only way to do that is to grow in relationship one with the other.
The Black Church is a village. In the most traditional use of the word, villages are small groups of families who are situated together for sociability and defense. In the village, people look out for one another. In the village, there are many mothers and fathers. The village concept is such that the success of the individual is directly connected to the success of the group. Many Black Churches function as little villages. We help each other. We support each other. There is a sense of safety that the Black Church provides to Black communities. While all Black people do not attend Black Churches, the majority of Black families appreciate the proximity of this institution within its village. It is all about faith and family. The Black Church, the black family, will survive if God be for us.
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Birmingham Revolution : Martin Luther King Jrs Epic Challenge To The Church
$16.99Add to cartFrom time to time prophetic Christian voices rise to challenge our nations “original sin.” In the twentieth century, compelled by the Spirit of God and a yearning for freedom, the African American church took the lead in heralding the effort. Like almost no other movement before or since, Christian people gave force to a social mission. And, remarkably, they did it largely through nonviolent actions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s words and historic efforts as the Moses of this civil rights movement stand out as perhaps the most significant instance of a modern Christian leader acting in a prophetic role to instigate political change. In many ways “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” stands at the center of that movement. In this book African American journalist Edward Gilbreath explores the place of that letter in the life and work of Dr. King. Birmingham Revolution is not simply a work of historical reflection. Gilbreath encourages us to reflect on the relevance of King’s work for the church and culture of our day. Whether its in debates about immigration, economic redistribution or presidential birth certificates, race continues to play a role in shaping society. What part will the church play in the ongoing struggle?
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Israels Poetry Of Resistance
$32.00Add to cartNoting that Israel’s earliest responses to earth-shaking changes were cast in the powerfully expressive language of poetry, Hugh R. Page Jr. argues that the careful collection and preservation of these traditions-now found in every part of the Hebrew Bible-was an act of resistance, a communal no to the forces of despair and a yes to the creative power of the Spirit.
Further, Page argues, the power of these poems to craft and shape a future for a people who had suffered acute displacement and marginalization offers a rich spiritual repertoire for Africana peoples today, and for all who find themselves perennially outside the social or political mainstream. Here Page offers fresh translations and brief commentary on the Bible’s fifteen earliest poems, and explores the power and relevance of these poems, and the ancient mythic themes behind them, for contemporary life at the margins. -
African American Church
$14.99Add to cartIn the pages of this book, Rev. Leonidas A. Johnson eloquently shares how God’s missionary call, like an aromatic stew, has been simmering within the African American church. According to him, “The African American church will play a critical role in spreading the gospel message to people groups living in areas of the world that represent the last strongholds and citadels of satanic power attempting to stop God’s Mission.”
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Postcolonializing God : An African Practical Theology
$40.00Add to cartPostcolonializing God examines how African Christianity especially as a practical spirituality can be truly a postcolonial reality. The book offers thoughts as to how African Christians and by that token others who were colonial subjects, may practice a spirituality that bears the hallmarks of their authentic cultural heritage, even if that makes them distinctly different from Christians from the colonizing nations.
There are themes in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Scriptures in which God’s activities result in shattering hegemony, overthrowing the powerful, diversifying communities and affirming pluralism. These have by and large been ignored or downplayed in the formation of Christian communities by western and westernized Christians in Africa. The effect of this is that much of the practice of African Christians imitates that of a European Christianity of bygone times.
Postcolonializing God charts a different course uplifting these ignored readings of scripture and identifying how they are expressed again by Africans who courageously seek through the practices of mysticism and African culture to portray a God whose actions liberate and diversify human experience.
Postcolonializing God seeks to express the human diversity that seems to be the Creator’s ongoing desire for the world and thereby to continue to manifest the manifold and diverse nature and wisdom of God. It is only as humans refuse to be created in the image of any other human beings, that the richness and complexity of the divine image will be more closely viewed throughout the world.
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Embodied Spirits : Stories Of Spiritual Directors Of Color
$20.95Add to cart* A solid new addition to the Morehouse collection for spiritual directors
* First book addressing the concerns and issues of people of color in spiritual direction
* Wide ecumenical appeal
“These essays speak of how we have incorporated our contemplative practices into our family life; our urban, non-religious background; how we have been nurtured in struggles for health and life through our contemplative prayer practices and our courage to survive and even thrive in the midst of dire circumstances. We speak of the unfolding bridge between faith and culture; our conflicts with an Interspiritual journey with a Christian foundation; our sexuality; our journey to healing and authenticity; and how we are taking this practice that began in the first centuries of the church with the desert mothers and fathers to the present and into the future with spiritual direction through the Internet across the world.” -from the Introduction -
Raise Him Up
$22.99Add to cartThere is no greater hope for single mothers than to watch their sons succeed, and African-American single mothers face more adversity than most. Raise Him Up delves into the challenges faced by African-American single moms and offers advice, scriptural support, and helpful prayers. Each chapter relates a spiritual point taken from the book of Acts, a mother’s story, and draws parallels to the struggles of the modern day African-American mother. Chapters also offer stories of African-American athletes who were raised by single moms, and against all odds, succeeded.
Moms will learn to give encouragement, push their boys to try new things, and keep them out of trouble. Raise Him Up is essential reading for single African-American moms who want nothing more than to see their sons grow into happy, successful men.
Features include:
Helpful tips and tools for raising successful men
Hopeful stories of success in the face of adversity
Scripture from the book of Acts -
African American Experience In World Mission (Revised)
$21.99Add to cartVenture into the world of overseas missions from an African-American perspective. This collection of articles takes you deep into the history of missions in the African-American community. You will learn of the struggles to stay connected to the world of missions in spite of great obstacles. You will read of unique cultural experiences while traveling abroad. You will feel the heart for fulfilling the Great Commission both in the African-American community and beyond. All text remains the same in this revised edition, with the exception of new study guide questions at the close of each chapter. The questions can be used to help facilitate discussions in Sunday School, Bible study, seminary classes, conference workshops and other group or individual studies.
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Ethics That Matters
$45.00Add to cartIn light of globalization, ongoing issues of race, gender, and class, and the rapidly changing roles of institutions, this volume asserts that Christian social ethics must be reframed completely. Three questions are at the heart of this vital inquiry: How can moral community flourish in a global context? What kinds of leadership do we need to nurture global moral community? How shall we construe social institutions and social movements for change in the twenty-first century?
With the editors, the illustrious contributors include: Jacob Olupona, Noel Erksine, Katie G. Cannon, Anthony B. Pinn, Riggins Earl, James H. Cone, Dwight N. Hopkins, Lewis V. Baldwin, Jonathan L. Walton, Rosetta E. Ross, Victor Anderson, Walter E. Fluker, Traci West, Melanie L. Harris, Emilie M. Townes, Barbara A. Holmes, and Peter J. Paris.
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Womanist Theological Ethics
$45.00Add to cartWriting across theological disciplines, nine African American women scholars reflect on what it means to live as responsible doers of justice. With some classic essays and some contributions published here for the first time, each chapter in this new volume in the Library of Theological Ethics series presents analytical strategies for understanding the story of womanist scholarship in the service of the black community.
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African Memory Of Mark
$35.99Add to cartPreface: Not For Africans Alone
Part 1: The African Memory Of St. Mark
Part 2: The Identity Of The Biblical Mark Viewed From African Tradition
Part 3: Mark In Africa
Part 4: Mark In The Historical Record
Part 5: The Ubiquity Of Mark
ConclusionAdditional Info
We often regard the author of the Gospel of Mark as an obscure figure about whom we know little. Many would be surprised to learn how much fuller a picture of Mark exists within widespread African tradition, tradition that holds that Mark himself was from North Africa, that he founded the church in Alexandria, that he was an eyewitness to the Last Supper and Pentecost, that he was related not only to Barnabas but to Peter as well and accompanied him on many of his travels.In this provocative reassessment of early church tradition, Thomas C. Oden begins with the palette of New Testament evidence and adds to it the range of colors from traditional African sources, including synaxaries (compilations of short biographies of saints to be read on feast days), archaeological sites, non-Western historical documents and ancient churches.
The result is a fresh and illuminating portrait of Mark, one that is deeply rooted in African memory and seldom viewed appreciatively in the West.
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Singing The Lords Song In A Strange Land
$18.99Add to cartFrom the earliest meetings of the Civil Rights Movement to offering the benediction for the first African American President of the United States, Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery has been an eyewitness to some of the most significant events in our history. But, more important, he has been a voice that speaks truth to power–inspiring change that moves us forward. In Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land, you will find Dr. Lowery’s most enduring speeches and messages from the past fifty years including Coretta Scott King’s funeral and the benediction given at President Obama’s inauguration. This book, however, is not simply a collection of words. It is the heart of a movement and a call to a new generation to carry the mantle–for all people.
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Black United Methodists
$27.99Add to cartFor those desiring to read a concise but accurate historical outline of African Americans in The United Methodist Church, this is the book. For those desiring tidbits of data not included in typical history books, commingled with insertions of American history, this book will serves as a rich resource. – From the Foreword by Bishop Forrest C. Stith
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Courageous Compassion : A Prophetic Homiletic In Service To The Church
$19.99Add to cartA wonderfully intelligent, forceful book, bringing together masterful sermons by noted preacher Jerry Taylor and responses by world-renowned scholars.
Jerry Taylor’s preaching is characterized as a ”Compassionate Prophetic Voice” delivered in the traditional African American form: ”Start slow, stay low, rise higher, and end in fire.” His preaching is intelligent and wedded to the biblical text, effectively engaging listeners before exploding with persuasion.
COURAGEOUS COMPASSION provides examples of ten of Taylor’s best-crafted sermons, including ”The Curse of Babel,” ”They That Wait upon the Lord,” ”Alive to God,” and ”Courageous Compassion.” Respected theorists, biblical scholars, and denominational leaders have responded to each sermon, providing analysis, homiletic insight, reflections from the tradition of Black preaching, and comments on what Taylor is ”doing right.”
This volume accents the work of one homiletic practitioner whose work demands careful reflection and wide distribution. Its lively writing style, and its use of concrete images and examples to connect serious reflections with Taylor’s sermons, also serves as an example of how listeners and readers can interact with such rich preaching.
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Quest For A Black Theology
$15.00Add to cartThe late 1960s witnessed tumult over the Vietnam War, the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., rioting by African Americans in major U.S. cities, and the rise of the Black Power Movement. At the same time there emerged, even amid serious controversy in the black churches, black liberation theology and its radical critique not only of white power structures but of historic Christianity itself. This classic volume, a gathering of essays from a pivotal conference of black churchmen, ethicists, and theologians at Georgetown University in 1969, reflects the urgency, contention, and energy of that time. Debating black consciousness, pride, power, and liberation in relation to Christianity, the chapters of this volume speak of and to the pain and possibility experienced by African Americans at the time, as well as to the deep divisions-and deep faith-within the black churches of the day.
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Long Time Coming
$16.99Add to cartFaithful Christian Deidre Clark-Morris is a professional career-minded woman with a loving husband, but no children. Kenisha Smalls has lived in poverty all her life. She has three children by three different men and has just been diagnosed with inoperable cervical cancer. While the meeting between these two women appears accidental, it becomes their catalyst of hope. Neither woman expects the blessing that God has in store for them. While Deidre guides Kenisha on the path to eternal life with Jesus Christ, Kenisha teaches Deidre how to stand strong against the hard knocks of life.
Kenisha and Deidre come to terms with the bleakness of their situations while still climbing that high mountain of faith and hope. Long Time Coming presents readers with the question: What would you do when there is nothing left to do? Can you still trust God even when faced with infertility and the impending demise of a loved one? It is a story of hope and inspiration that will leave readers profoundly touched.
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How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
$25.99Add to cartIntroduction
Toward A Half Billion African Christians
An Epic Story
Out Of Africa
The Pivotal Place Of Africa On The Ancient Map
Two Rivers: The Nile And The Medjerda–Seedbed Of Early Christian Thought
Affirming Oral And Written Traditions
Self-Effacement And The Recovery Of Dignity
The Missing Link: The Early African Written Intellectual Tradition Forgotten
Why Africa Has Seemed To The West To Lack Intellectual History
InterludePart One: The African Seedbed Of Western Christianity
1 A Forgotten Story
Who Can Tell It?
Pilgrimage Sites Neglected
Under Sands: The Burial Of Ancient Christian Texts And Basilicas
2 Seven Ways Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
How The Western Idea Of A University Was Born In The Crucible Of Africa
How Christian Exegesis Of Scripture First Matured In Africa
How African Sources Shaped Early Christian Dogma
How Early Ecumenical Decision Making Followed African Conciliar Patterns
How The African Desert Gave Birth To Worldwide Monasticism
How Christian Neoplatonism Emerged In Africa
How Rhetorical And Dialectical Skills Were Refined In Africa And Introduced To Europe
Interlude: Harnack?s Folly
Overview
3 Defining Africa
Establishing The Indigenous Depth Of Early African Christianity
The Stereotyping Of Hellenism As Non-African
Scientific Inquiry Into The Ethnicity Of Early African Christian Writers
The Purveyors Of Myopia
The African-Priority Hypothesis Requires Textual Demonstration
The South-to-North Hypothesis
A Case In Point: The Circuitous Path From Africa To Ireland To Europe And Then Back To Africa
A Caveat Against Afrocentric Exaggeration
4 One Faith, Two Africas
The Hazards Of Bridge Building
The Challenge Of Reconciliation Of Black Africa And North Africa
Overcoming The Ingrained Lack Of Awareness
The Roots Of The Term Africa
Excommunicating The North
Arguing For African Unity
Defining “Early African Christianity” As A Descriptive Category Of A Period Of History
How African Is The Nile Valley?
5 Temptations
The Emerging Task Of Historical Inquiry
The Catholic Limits Of Afrocentrism
The Inflexible Habit Of Ignoring African Sources
The Cost Of The Forgetfulness
Overlooking African Voices Already Present In Scripture
How Protestants Can Celebrate The Apostolic Charisma Of The Copts
The Christian Ancestry Of AfricaPart Two: African Orthodox Recovery
6 The Opportunity For Retrieval
Surviving Modernity
The Steadiness Of African Orthodoxy
The New AfricanAdditional Info
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage? Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills. He calls for a wide-ranging research project to fill out the picture he sketches. It will require, he says, a generation of disciplined investigation, combining intensive language study with a risk-taking commitment to uncover the truth in potentially unreceptive environments. Oden envisions a dedicated consortium of scholars linked by computer technology and a common commitment that will seek to shape not only the scholar’s understanding but the ordinary African Christian’s self-perception. -
1 Mans Thougths
$13.49Add to cartHave you ever wondered what happened to the African American society, why are we so different from long ago and then again why haven’t we changed.
One Man’s Thoughts is a thought provoking piece that reflect the thoughts of one Black man whose words of inspiration and encouragement may very well be just what the African American society needs to read.
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Guide To Spiritual And Economic Empowerment
$14.99Add to cartThis project is the result of a study on economic and spiritual empowerment in the black church. This topic began with a focus group in the Doctor of Ministry program at United Theological Seminary, led by mentors Drs. Lewis V. Baldwin and Victor Anderson. One of the major hindrances to the economic empowerment of the black church and community is economic management.
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Liberating Black Theology
$19.99Add to cartWhen the beliefs of Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, assumed the spotlight during the 2008 presidential campaign, the influence of black liberation theology became hotly debated not just within theological circles but across cultural lines. How many of today’s African-American congregations-and how many Americans in general-have been shaped by its view of blacks as perpetual victims of white oppression?
In this interdisciplinary, biblical critique of the black experience in America, Anthony Bradley introduces audiences to black liberation theology and its spiritual and social impact. He starts with James Cone’s proposition that the “victim” mind-set is inherent within black consciousness. Bradley then explores how such biblical misinterpretation has historically hindered black churches in addressing the diverse issues of their communities and prevented adherents from experiencing the freedoms of the gospel. Yet Liberating Black Theology does more than consider the ramifications of this belief system; it suggests an alternate approach to the black experience that can truly liberate all Christ-followers.
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Moving The Rock
$59.00Add to cartPreface
Introduction: A Short HistoryPart I. Morning Sun Missionary Baptist Church
Chapter 1. Morning Sun Church And Its Leaders
Chapter 2. The Family
Chapter 3. MotherhoodPart II. The Women Of Morning Sun Church
Chapter 4. Molly Lake Lander: “I Guess I Have To Go To Jesus”
Chapter 5. Caren Lake: “Having A Dream”
Chapter 6. Mahalia Lake: “I Don’t Ask The Lord To Move The Mountain, Just Give Me The Strength To Climb It”
Chapter 7. Mable Jackson: “All I Asked The Lord For Was A Man With A Cigarette And A Job”
Chapter 8. Betty Jones: “I Like To Go!”
Chapter 9. Joann Jones Newton: “When God Comes, He’s Getting Some Of Every Race”
Chapter 10. Marie Jones Smith: “Getting That Made-Up Mind”
Chapter 11. Linda Wilson, Marie’s Daughter: “All These Years I Have Become Stronger”Part III. The Research Process
Chapter 12. The Research, The Women, And MeAppendix: The Research Questions, Theories, And Methods
Additional Info
Moving the Rock portrays several generations of African American women whose families migrated from the South to the Pacific Northwest in the 1940s and 1950s. As members of a small storefront church in central Seattle, these women-grandmothers, mothers, daughters-lean on their faith and church to face the challenges of poverty, racism, ignorance, and health. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it is painfully obvious that many of us know little about what it is like to be poor and Black in the United States. These powerful, profound stories bring this group of women and their problems (and joys) vividly and movingly to life. -
More Power In The Pulpit
$28.00Add to cartIn this companion and sequel to the best-selling Power in the Pulpit (Westminster John Knox, 2002), which has sold over 11,000 copies, more of Americas best-known and most influential African American preachers describe how they prepare their sermons. Each preacher also presents a sermon that highlights his or her particular method of sermon preparation.
Contributors to this volume include: Willette Alyce Burgie-Bryant, William S. Epps, C. E. McLain, Otis Moss Jr., Otis Moss III, Veronica R. Goines, Cynthia L. Hale, Melvin V. Wade Sr., Raquel A. St. Clair, and Walter S. Thomas Sr.
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Moral State Of Black America
$14.99Add to cartAdvantage Inspirational Title
Our community can be restored spiritually and naturally through an unhindered work of the powerful Holy Spirit. We must remove the stumbling blocks that inhibit our calling others to the faith and our growth within the Kingdom.
May the reader be moved to heed the call to show the world yet another great work by Christ Jesus, as intractable problems get solved and many who doubted the power will find it irresistible. We can only look upward for our salvation now, tomorrow and forevermore.
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Reconciliation Blues : A Black Evangelicals Inside View Of White Christiani
$18.99Add to cartJournalist Edward Gilbreath gives an insightful, honest picture of both the history and the present state of racial reconciliation in evangelical churches. He looks at a wide range of figures, such as Howard O. Jones, Tom Skinner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and John Perkins.
Charting progress as well as setbacks, his words offer encouragement for black evangelicals feeling alone, clarity for white evangelicals who want to understand more deeply, and fresh vision for all who want to move forward toward Christ’s prayer “that all of them may be one.”
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Experiencing The Truth
$22.50Add to cartCommunicates the need of a vibrant, experiential, Reformed Christianity among African-American and all believers.
The authors lay out the biblical basis for choosing and attending a church and demonstrate how the historic Reformed expression has been the most biblically accurate and experientially consistent expression of Christianity.
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Christians Warfare : Its A Family Affair
$25.99Add to cartTHE CHRISTIAN’S WARFARE: IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR As you read this book, you will come to see that victory over the obstacles we face in life is not just about His power or His presence but about your Positioning. Christ has promised us His power just as he has promised us His presence, but He leaves it up to us to be PROPERLY POSITIONED in certain areas in order that we might gain the victory. These areas are: o Living successfully as Singles in a sex-crazed society o Husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church. o Wives submitting to and reverencing their husbands o Children obeying and honoring their parents o Fathers not provoking their children to anger and discouragement o Men becoming providers and not pimps in their home
“This book acquaints the Saints with proper positioning strategies by providing us with a means to inspect what we expect based on God’s expectations for each of us. It addresses a basic premise, that behavior follows belief over a protracted period of time. Reformation can never truly change behavior, transformation of one’s belief system is required to behave differently. Misbehavior is a reflection of “mis-believing.” Many in the Kingdom will be blessed through this work. Thank you Pastor Davis for obeying the Spirit.” Sterling Lands, II DD Sr. Pastor, Greater Calvary Bible Church, Austin, Texas Sr. Pastor, First African Bible Church, Dallas, Texas
