African Americans and the Christian Churches takes a look at the emergence of African American Christianity in America from 1619 - 1860. An initial objective of this text is the exploration of the strategies white church people devised to accommodate Jesus' mandate to teach the gospel to the entire world, while preserving structures of social relationships that accommodated their dominance and power.
The book is also an exposition of the solutions that Africans have discovered in the gospel and experienced in the institutions they have created - values and affirmations that contradict the prejudices of the dominant culture. Additionally, it explores the responses that African religious institutions have made to the gospel in a society not of their own making.
Historical black denominations discussed in this volume are:
. African Baptists
. African Presbyterians
. The Methodist Episcopal Church
. The African Methodist Episcopal Church
. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion
LAWRENCE NEALE JONES is dean emeritus of Howard University Divinity School and Former dean of students, dean of faculity, and acting president of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, and Yale University. Jones is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the author of numerous books.
The definitive resource on the indoctrination of black slaves to Christianity and how Christian denominations, including historical black denominations, impacted black life in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries