The African-American Church Experience

Last Sunday night at our church, Eric Washington, Assistant Professor of African-American and African History at Calvin College, spoke to our congregation on "The African-American Church Experience". Eric and his family live in our area and attend our church often on Sunday evenings. They will be moving to Grand Rapids soon, so I asked if he would teach at our church before he left. I learned a lot from him on Sunday night. The lecture is definitely worth listening to.

Eric framed the discussion around the doctrine of providence. Without mitigating at all the discrimination and oppression African-Americans have endured at the hands of whites in this country, Eric nevertheless claimed that the story of the African-American church is the story of God’s providence. To that end, he began his talk with a quotation from Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church. Jones, who pastored the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, had this to say during a sermon on January 1, 1808, the day that marked the end of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade in the United States:

There’s always been a mystery why the impartial Father of the human race should have permitted the transportation of so many millions of our fellow creatures to this country to endure all of the miseries of slavery. Perhaps his design was that a knowledge of the gospel might be acquired by some of their descendants in order that they might become qualified to be messengers of it to the land of their fathers.

Eric probes these themes of providence and suffering in more detail in his talk.

If my notes are correct, Eric’s outline looks like this:

I. Slavery and the Church
II. Independence Movements
III. Civil Rights Movement and Social Justice
IV. Concerns for the African-American church today
V. Signs of Hope in the African-American Church
VI. Lessons to be Learned

At the end of the Q/A, Eric mentioned several books for those who are interested in reading more about African-American Church History or reading good books by contemporary African-American Christians. I've read the last three books and highly recommend them. The first two books look interesting as well.

Albert Raboteau. African-American Religion.

Milton C. Sernett. African-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness.

Thabiti Anyabwile. The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity.

Thabiti Anyabwile. The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors.

Anthony Carter. On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience.

Listen to the whole talk. Eric is a good scholar, a committed evangelical, reformed Christian, and an all around nice guy.

Comments

[Mick Nienhuis]

Kevin, it surely appears that Eric is not unlike yourself - a good scholar, a committed evangelical, reformed Christian, and all around nice guy! Unfortunately i have dial-up so listening to Eric's message is nigh impossible.

Thanks for the quote from Absalom Jones of 200 years ago, and ironic in that he was of the Episcopal Church which is now in theological uproar - God moves in mysterious ways. What does Eric think of the ongoing breaking apart of the Episcopal Church in America?

Those churches holding to biblical truth and separating from the Episcopal Church are being helped by the Anglican Church in Africa to reorganize under the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). An informative read is at ststephensva.org , a website of St. Stephen's Anglican Church (Heathsville, VA). They are a sister congregation to The Cathedral Church of Sts. Philip and Andrew, Mukono, Uganda; and work together with the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Kaziimba who has studied at Western Seminary.

An elder at St. Stephens calls the ongoing struggle a "new reformation" - which i opine the RCA and CRC both sorely need.