Black Church Spirituality

Catalog description

Taught by GTU. The Black Church in the US and its history is an important element of American History. This course charts the history of the Black Church in the US beginning with its African legacies that survived the Transatlantic slave trade, through Jim Crow laws enacted after the Reconstruction period, including segregation and desegregation, through the Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, and into the twenty-first century. Popular misconception suggests that contemplation is absent from black spirituality, which is instead only to be expressive, full of moan, shout and frenzy. The focus of the course will be the distinctive contemplative experiences of the Black Church in the US, and its spirituality. Lectures and selected readings are designed to inform students cognitively and ground students experientially in Black Church traditions of spiritual practice. Opening devotions are intended to introduce and involve students in contemplative practices of the Black Church in the US. Field trips to local Black congregations will be offered for further immersion. Students will examine understandings of contemplation, and analyze the legacy and traditions of the Black Church as core to the broadly accepted and studied canon of contemplative spiritual practices. The intended audience includes MDiv, MA and other Masters students interested in Black Church and Africana Studies. This course is taught by PhD student Ineda Adesanya with a Newhall Award, under the supervision of Laurie Garrett-Cobbina. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]