nd European traditions and often the formation of a of a new growth of belief and ritual, quite different from the sources from which they started" (230).
The authors' sociological and anthropological perspective leads them to connect religion, and this religion specifically, to the special culture-within-a-culture of African-Americanism. They recognize that
religion is a cultural system, a socially patterned set of meanings and behaviors. Culture enable survival through coordinated activity, structured and meaningful social interaction, and a minimization of cognitive dissonance or metaphysical anxiety (230).
Therefore, the concepts explored and applied by the authors are not used "objectively" but are instead colored significantly by the respect and appreciation they have for the religious achievements of African-Americans.
One of the concepts they employ to demonstrate this appreciation is syncretism, or the "mixing and merging" process mentioned previously. African-American religious groups "form complex syncretic ensembles." A primary example of this is the so-called Spiritual movement, "the leading representative of the thaumaturgical sect" and "probably . . . the most explicit manifestation of syncretism in the African-American religious experience in the United States" (230).
In exploring the concept of the thaumaturgical sect, the authors bring together the social, economic and religious elements of the African-American experience in the twentieth century. In doing so, they rely again on the sociological perspective they have adopted. As we read,
Thaumaturgical sects maintain that the most direct way to achieve socially desired ends---such as financial prosperity, prestige, love, and health---is by engaging in various magico-religious rituals or by acquiring esoteric knowledge that provides individuals with spiritual power over themselves and others (62).
This thaumaturgical approach on the par...