History and Heritage (Amazon Kindle Edition)
Drawing on a wide array of sources to document cultural influences from Africa, the author vividly describes the emergence of an independent church tradition among African Americans. L.H. Whelchel demonstrates the struggles of Africans in the United States to build and maintain their own churches before showing how those churches and their ministers were often at the center of seminal events in the history of America. Dr. Whelchel provides an engaging and provocative narrative, and with detailed documentation and end notes for each chapter along with critical analyses which will be of benefit to ministers, scholars, teachers, students and the general reading public.
University professor, church pastor, and civil rights activist L.H. Whelchel presents The History and Heritage of African American Churches: A Way Out of No Way, a scholarly examination of how Africa affected the early Christian Church, and how African-African Christians labored to create and perpetuate their church’s own religious traditions. Focus is especially bestowed on the role certain African-African churches and their ministers played in crucial events in American history. The History and Heritage of African American Churches is highly recommended especially for public and college library collections."--The Midwest Book Review
"An important contribution to the study of black churches by a pastor and a teacher."—James H. Cone, Charles Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, author of God of the Oppressed
“…an absorbing and soaring examination of African-American Christianity. In a sweeping interrogation, Dr. Whelchel affirms the sacred legacy of the children of Africa in the United States from our African ancestral inheritance to the modern black-led struggle for freedom in this country.”—Alton B. Pollard, III, Ph.D., Dean and Professor of Religion and Culture, Howard University School of Divinity
“…a valuable asset to students, clergy, and lay persons to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of African American churches in the history of our country. I highly commend this resource without qualifications.” —William P. DeVeaux, Bishop, Sixth Episcopal District (Georgia), African Methodist Episcopal Church
“…an uncommon look at the Black church in America, as he extends it from the far reaches of the Motherland, Africa. A must read for those seeking to understand the focus, dimensions, and community of the Black church." —Rev. Arthur Agnew, Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church, Minneapolis
“This newest addition to the expanding literature and deepening legacy of the black religious experience in America, is not only most welcome, but fills a void felt by those seeking more scholarly interpretations of that experience.” —Othal Hawthorne Lakey, Bishop Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; author, The History of the CME Church
“The title understates the scope of this work…. While the development of Christianity among the African Americans whose forebears came to North America as slaves is a principal subject of the book, Whelchel considers that development within the broadest possible context."
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Booklist, the book review journal of the American Library Association
"Dr. Whelchel's book on African-American churches is a major work of scholarship and a valuable piece of religious and cultural history. Full of solid research, penetrating analysis, and exciting narrative, this book will be well-received by a great number of students, scholars, and ministry leaders. I highly recommend this monumental work for anyone who appreciates the contribution of religion to the African-American experience."
—Bishop Charles E. Blake, Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ
Introduction
Chapter One: Our Mother
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The African Origins of Humanity & Civilization
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The African Roots of Judaism and Christianity
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The African Defenders of the Faith
Chapter Two:
Christianity in Transition
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Roman Imperial Christianity
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African Developments Apart from Invasion and Colonization 300 – 1450 AD
Chapter Three: The European Slave Trade
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Prelude to the Great Calamity
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The Middle Passage from Freedom to Servitude
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Europeans Initiate their Enslavement of Africans
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The American Practice of Slavery
Chapter Four:
The Conversion of Enslaved Africans to the Practice of American Christianity
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Africa’s First Encounter with ‘Christian’ America
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Conversion and the Inspiration to Literacy
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The Silver Bluff Awakening
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The Age of Heroic Preachers
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The Historical Role of Women in the Black Church
Chapter Five: The Black Church and Black Reconstruction
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The Emergence of Independent Black Churches and Preachers
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The South as a Field of Mission
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Black Preachers as Political Leaders During Reconstruction
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The Determination and Drive to Establish Independent Black Churches
Chapter Six: The Struggle in the Wilderness
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The Emergence of Color Consciousness and Elitism Among African Americans – Background to the Plessy vs. Ferguson Travesty
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From Slavery to Peonage in the Post Reconstruction South
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The Great Migrations and the Initiation of the Civil Rights Movement
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The Emergence of Radicals, Nonconformists and Militants in the African-American Religious Experience
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The Rise of Grassroots Protests Leading to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision
Chapter Seven: The Civil Rights Movement as an Extension of the Black church
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott –The
Empowerment of a Movement and the Coming of a Leader
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Confronting the Philistines – The Struggle to Bring Social Justice to Birmingham
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Gathering of the Masses – The Spiritual Power Base of the Movement
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Black Power Emerges out of the Movement
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The Southern Christian Leadership Conference – The Black Church as the Institutional Center of the Movement
