African-American Religion in the 20th Century

Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer, in African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation, approach their subject employing a unique combination of conceptual and contextual elements. In addition, they seek to shed light on connections not dealt with adequately by previous researchers.

For example, they aim to clarify the connection between the origins and development of African-American religion and capitalism. Their conceptual framework is "social scientific" (xii) and their approach is "methodological agnosticism" (xiii). They honor the variety of expression and practice in their field by providing "the first comprehensive overview that covers this period and attempts to recognize the diversity of forms that African-American religion takes" (xii). They refer to themselves as "critical anthropologists" in delineating their grandest purpose: "We hope that our efforts will contribute to a fuller appreciation of the richness of African-American religion and the strategies that Black people have adopted in their search for hope and dignity in a society that has treated them and continues to treat them brutally" (xiv). In pursuing these objectives and exploring these and other concepts in a framework which utilizes sociological and anthropological methods, the authors focus specifically on the use of religion by African-Americans to both find meaningful and useful connections with the dominant, white, capitalistic society, while at the sam

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ive amount of material in a relatively short book. However, the argument could be made that their concise treatment of every major or minor religious approach of African-Americans allows them to effectively deal each approach. For example, they deal succinctly and clearly with the Nation of Islam, recognizing its dynamism and its appeal to the African-American population not only in religious terms but in social, political and economic terms as well. Even if the argument is made that they are trying to cover too much territory, it is still true that the sociological framework they use (emphasizing the "protest and accommodation" motif) allows the reader to keep in mind the fundamental connections among these varieties of religious experience in the African-American community. With respect to the specific research carried out and sources utilized, the authors recognize the vast scope of the project they have undertaken and write that In undertaking this massive effort, we have drawn from two major sources. The first of these comes from a large assortment of books, articles, newspaper accounts, and unpublished theses and dissertations. . . The second . . . is our own ethnographic fieldwork on Black religion and ethnomedicine, p

Category: Psychology - A