The Black Church

The purpose of this research is to examine the historical functions of the Black Church in the U.S. as a social institution. The plan of the research will be to describe the details of the purpose of the study as well as the significance and need for it, and then to discuss the historical/comparative methodology employed to analyze appropriate data and commentary, anchored chiefly in the theories of social analysis contained in Social Theory and Social Structure by Robert Merton and, secondarily, in Sociology: A Systematic Introduction by Harry M. Johnson. The body of the study will review and analyze related literature with a view toward discerning meaningful patterns of institutional organization and behavior that can serve to appropriately position the Black Church vis-a-vis modern society in general and other modern social institutions in particular. It is hoped that the findings and conclusions derived from this study will have the effect of adding to the existing sociological knowledge base pertaining to Black Churches while encouraging future research efforts aimed at a fuller understanding of such institutions.

It is a truism of the popular culture that much of the culture of the black American community is manifest to a significant extent in the experience of the black church. Many black popular musicians received their initial exposure to music in the church sett

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n, and discrimination, practiced in this country at all levels in the North, South, East, and West" (Epps, 1968, p. 164). The views of the NOI as an organization did not change. Currently, the NOI is widely perceived as extremist in orientation, whereas the traditional black (Christian) churches are associated with mainstream civil rights activism. This is a point to which we shall return, but it is also useful to note that Malcolm and King came to have many views in common. Martin Luther King, of the so-called black moderates, was the only one mentioned in Haley's report as having attended the funeral. For example, he shared with Malcolm the fierce desire that the black American reclaim his racial pride, his joy in himself and his race. . . . He shared with the nationalists the sure knowledge that "black is beautiful" and that, in so many respects, the quality of the black people's scale of values was far superior to that of the white culture which attempted to enslave us. Martin too had a close attachment to our African brothers and to our common heritage (C. King, 1969, pp. 256-7). In the years since his death, Malcolm has been moved increasingly into the ideological mainstream of civil rights activism. Cone (1992) positions hi
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Approximate Word count = 8457
Approximate Pages = 34 (250 words per page)

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