African American Religions, 1500–2000
Colonialism, Democracy, and Freedom

A rich account of the long history of Black religion from the dawn of Western colonialism to the rise of the national security paradigm.

Sylvester A. Johnson (Author)

9780521198530, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 August 2015

438 pages, 4 b/w illus.
23.9 x 16.3 x 4.8 cm, 0.66 kg

'A century of work in slavery studies and critical race theory has exposed the terrors that underwrite American democratic freedom. Johnson's ambitious text steps into this multifaceted conversation … and reinterprets the history of African American religion through the lens of its central arguments …' Lucia Hulsether, Religious Studies Review

This book provides a narrative historical, postcolonial account of African American religions. It examines the intersection of Black religion and colonialism over several centuries to explain the relationship between empire and democratic freedom. Rather than treating freedom and its others (colonialism, slavery and racism) as opposites, Sylvester A. Johnson interprets multiple periods of Black religious history to discern how Atlantic empires (particularly that of the United States) simultaneously enabled the emergence of particular forms of religious experience and freedom movements as well as disturbing patterns of violent domination. Johnson explains theories of matter and spirit that shaped early indigenous religious movements in Africa, Black political religion responding to the American racial state, the creation of Liberia, and FBI repression of Black religious movements in the twentieth century. By combining historical methods with theoretical analysis, Johnson explains the seeming contradictions that have shaped Black religions in the modern era.

Introduction
1. Black Atlantic religion and Afro-European commerce
2. On religious matters
3. Colonial governance and religious subjectivity
4. Stateless bodies, African missions, and the Black Christian settler colony
5. Black political theology, white redemption, and soldiers for empire
6. Garveyism, anticolonialism, and state repression of Black religions
7. Fundamentalism, counterintelligence, and the 'negro rebellion'
8. Black religion, the security state, and the racialization of Islam
9. Conclusion. Black religion, freedom, and colonialism.

Subject Areas: Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies [JFSL1], History of religion [HRAX], History of the Americas [HBJK]