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. Through his original research he has identified five theological anchors grounding African Americans in Christian orthodoxy: Big God, Jesus, Conversion and walking in the Spirit, The Good Book, Deliverance. In volume 1, a narrative history, Strickland tells the story of these themes from the 1600s to the present. He explores the crucial ecclesiastical, social, and theological developments, including the rise of Black evangelicalism as well as broader contributions to politics and culture. 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 2, a companion anthology, covers the breadth of these historical developments by presenting primary-source documents so we can listen to Black Christianity in its own words"--
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. A Transatlantic Faith
3. Deliverance in the Shadows
4. Faith Reclaimed
5. The Invisible Institution Becomes Visible
6. "Alpha and Omega of All Things"
7. A New Normal
8. Budding Theological Movements
9. The Road to the Civil Rights Movement
Interlude: Theologizing Black Consciousness
10. Black Evangelical Identity
11. Black Evangelical Consciousness
12. Black Evangelical Diaspora
13. The Arrival of Black Liberation
14. Heirs of Black Liberation
15. Into the Twenty-First Century
