Old ship of Zion : the Afro-Baptist ritual in the African diaspora / Walter F. Pitts.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Pitts, Walter F., 1947-1991, author.

Series:

• Religion in America (New York, N.Y.)
• Religion in America Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• African American Baptists.
• Black people--Africa--Religion.
• Public worship--Baptists--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford, [England] : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Summary:

This book retraces the African origins of African-American forms of worship. During a five-year period in the field, Pitts played the piano at and recorded numerous worship services in black Baptist churches throughout rural Texas. His historical comparisons and linguistic analyses of this material uncover striking parallels between ""Afro-Baptist"" services and the religious rituals of Western and Central Africa, as well as other African-derived rituals in the United States Sea Islands, the Caribbean, and Brazil.

Contents:

Contents; Foreword; Introduction; 1 ""Magnificence, Beauty, Poetry, and Color"": The Afro-Baptist Church, Its Ritual and Frames; 2 ""We Free!"" History of the Afro-Baptist Church; 3 ""I Want to Be at the Meeting"": A History of Afro-Baptist Speech and Hymnody; 4 ""Kabiesile Shango!"" A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Ritual Frames; 5 ""Nothing New under the Sun"": The Variation of Speech and Song in the Afro-Baptist Ritual; 6 ""Like a Ship"": Afro-Baptist Ritual Process; References; Audiography; Index;

Notes:

• Description based upon print version of record.
• Description based on print version record.
• Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

• 0-19-535480-X
• 0-585-32506-5

OCLC:

476010552