Black lives and sacred humanity : toward an African American religious naturalism / Carol Wayne White.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

White, Carol Wayne, 1968- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Religion.

African Americans.

Physical Description:

viii, 164 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, [2016]

Summary:

Identifying African American religiosity as the ingenuity of a people constantly striving to inhabit their humanity and eke out a meaningful existence for themselves amid harrowing circumstances, Black Lives and Sacred Humanity constructs a concept of sacred humanity and grounds it in the writings of Anna Julia Cooper, W. E. B. Du Bois, and James Baldwin. Supported by current theories in science studies, critical theory, and religious naturalism, this concept, as Carol Wayne White demonstrates, offers a capacious view of humans as interconnected, social, value-laden organisms with the capacity to transform themselves and create nobler worlds wherein all sentient creatures flourish. Acknowledging the great harm wrought by divisive and problematic racial constructions in the United States, this book offers an alternative to theistic models of African American religiosity to inspire newer, conceptually compelling views of spirituality that address a classic, perennial religious question: What does it mean to be fully human and fully alive? Book jacket.

Contents:

African American religious sensibilities and the question of the human

Sacred humanity as stubborn, irreducible materiality

Anna Julia Cooper : relational humanity and the interplay of one and all

W.E.B. Du Bois : humans as centers of value and creativity

James Baldwin : race, religion, and the love of humanity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: White, Carol Wayne, 1962- author. Black lives and sacred humanity.

ISBN:

9780823269815

0823269817

9780823269822

0823269825

OCLC:

921865456