Jimmy's faith : James Baldwin, disidentification, and the queer possibilities of Black religion / Christopher W. Hunt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hunt, Christopher W., 1983- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987--Criticism and interpretation.

Baldwin, James.

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987--Religion.

African American churches in literature.

Religion in literature.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 227 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Fordham University Press 2025

New York : Fordham University Press, [2025]

Summary:

"The relationship of James Baldwin's life and work to Black religion is in many ways complex and confounding. What is he doing through his literary deployment of religious language and symbols? Despite Baldwin's disavowal of Christianity in his youth, he continued to engage the symbols and theology of Christianity in works such as The Amen Corner, Just Above My Head, and others. With Jimmy's Faith, author Christopher W. Hunt shows how Baldwin's usage of those religious symbols both shifted their meaning and served as a way for him to build his own religious and spiritual vision. Engaging José Esteban Muñoz's theory of disidentification as a queer practice of imagination and survival, Hunt demonstrates the ways in which James Baldwin disidentifies with and queers Black Christian language and theology throughout his literary corpus. Baldwin's vision is one in which queer sexuality signifies the depth of love's transforming pos­sibilities, the arts serve as the (religious) medium of knitting Black community together, an agnostic and affective mysticism undermines Christian theological discourse, 'androgyny' troubles the gender binary, and the Black child signifies the hope for a world made new. In disidentifying with Christian symbols, Jimmy's Faith reveals how Baldwin imagines both religion and the world 'oth­erwise,' offering a model of how we might do the same for our own communities and ourselves."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Jimmy's queer "threshing-floor" : Transformation and the role of disidentification in Baldwin's fiction

Jimmy's communion : Race, peoplehood, and the tone of (black) community

Jimmy's eschaton : Hope in "the new Jerusalem"

Jimmy's "man" : The problem of sexism in Baldwin's literature

Jimmy's (a)theology : Toward a black agnostic mysticism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed October 27, 2025).

Other Format:

Print version: Hunt, Christopher W., 1983- Jimmy's faith.

ISBN:

9781531508838

1531508839

9781531510985

1531510981

9781531508821

1531508820

OCLC:

1467671947

Publisher Number:

CIPO000225994

CIPO000248806

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license