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Swing Low, volume 2
casebound
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- Length: 512 pages
- Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
- Published: October 29, 2024
- Imprint: IVP Academic
- Item Code: A0900
- ISBN: 9781514009000
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Other Retailers:
Amazon*
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paperback
A Groundbreaking Portrait of African American Christianity
The history of African American Christianity is one of the determined faith of a people driven to pursue spiritual and social uplift for themselves and others to God's glory. Yet stories of faithful Black Christians have often been forgotten or minimized. The dynamic witness of the Black church in the United States is an essential part of Christian history that must be heard and dependably retold.
In this groundbreaking two-volume work, Walter R. Strickland II does just that through a theological-intellectual history highlighting the ways theology has formed and motivated Black Christianity across the centuries. In this volume 2, an anthology of readings drawn from primary sources, Strickland and a team of editors uncover the breadth of these historical documents from throughout the centuries of Black history so that we can listen to Black Christianity in its own words.
From a 1776 sermon by pastor Lemuel Haynes to podcasts and interviews with people like Christina Edmondson and Lecrae, these selections illustrate the diversity, creativity, and resilience of the Black church throughout American history. The anthology features familiar names such as Phillis Wheatley, Gardner C. Taylor, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as authors and leaders who are largely unknown, revealing insights from the church, academy, and beyond.
Swing Low offers a defining rubric under which to observe, understand, and learn from the diverse and living entity that is African American Christianity. Volume 1, a companion narrative history, tells the story of these themes from the 1600s to the present, exploring the crucial ecclesiastical, social, and theological developments.
"Walter Strickland's narrative of Black American Christianity provides a well-researched, carefully organized, and immensely informative history of an immensely important subject. The accompanying volume of well-chosen and well-introduced documents makes a valuable project even more useful. With its focus on Black Protestants, these books are landmarks for the exploration of the nation's past and its perennial struggles over race. Most of all they record a story that has been regularly neglected in accounts of American Christianity. It is the often unexpected, sometimes contentious, but enduring impact of the Christian gospel throughout African American history."
"In Swing Low, Strickland takes readers on a profound journey by combining historical narrative (volume one) with primary resources (volume two) to illuminate the triumphs, struggles, and theological developments that have shaped and continue to shape Black Christianity's enduring legacy in the United States. Throughout the entirety of these volumes, readers are invited to deeply explore how the Black church in America continues to navigate the challenges and opportunities of our contemporary world. They are simultaneously encouraged to envision a future where the Black church remains a catalyst for holistic liberation and spiritual renewal and continues to be a voice for justice, reconciliation, and communal transformation. This book is essential reading for pastors, theologians, and all who seek to understand the unique and profound contributions of the Black church in America and to honor its enduring legacy, learn from its theological insights, and join in the ongoing pursuit of liberation, healing, and reconciliation in our communities and beyond."
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Section 1: Pre-Emancipation: 1619-1865
Section 2: Reconstruction and Its Aftermath: 1865-1896
Section 3: Civil Rights Era: 1896-1968
Section 4: Black Evangelicalism: 1963ff
Section 5: Black Theology: 1969ff
Section 6: Into the Twenty-First Century
Scripture Index
