Varieties of African American Religious Experience: Toward a Comparative Black Theology

Twenty years ago Anthony Pinns engrossing survey highlighted the rich diversity of black religious life in America revealing expressions of an ever-changing black religious quest in four non-Christian religious movements. Based on extensive research travel and interviews--and embellished with photos bibliographies and case studies--Pinns work provides a fascinating look especially at Voodoo Santeria the Nation of Islam and black humanism in the United States and uses the diversity of religious belief to begin formulation of a comparative black theology--the first of its kind.Focusing less on institutional and doctrinal history and more on the varied popular religious practices and sites this volume highlights for example the significant influence of Caribbean religions in the United States practices of divination and healing the surge of black Muslims the emergence of black humanism and the religious influence and ethical practices of black women. The unique contribution of this volume however isnt the description of these traditions but instead it is the new method of theological work it begins to outline.This twentieth-anniversary edition is an expanded version including a new preface and a new concluding chapter. An important contribution to classroom studies!