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Black Religion: Malcolm X, Julius Lester, and Jan Willis (review)

Black Religion: Malcolm X, Julius Lester, and Jan Willis (review) Volume 31, No. 1, January 2010 77 Anderson challenges the concepts of “home” and “the black church” as the centers of value for African American religious experience. He tells intensely personal narratives of how violence interrupts African Americans homes, and how sexual and gender politics render black churches oppressive for many Af- rican Americans. This section rings a tragic note as the reader sees how some particularities of lived experience not only diminish our humanity, but also negate some of the most central assertions of black religious studies. Anderson’s optimism emerges in his concept of “Beloved Community.” Be- loved Community occurs in “the concrete actualization of creative exchange with the past, present and future of Christian faith in community” (viii). When we are able to enlarge ourselves beyond the particularities that usually bind us, and live our transcendence, justice and goods in this world of n fi itude, Beloved Community is present. It is a kind of eschatology. It is the regulative ideal and actual events. Because Beloved Community can erupt, even in the midst of narratives like those Anderson recounts, he can still name “home” and “black church” as centers of value for African American religious experience. Thank- http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Theology & Philosophy University of Illinois Press

Black Religion: Malcolm X, Julius Lester, and Jan Willis (review)

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Publisher
University of Illinois Press
ISSN
2156-4795

Abstract

Volume 31, No. 1, January 2010 77 Anderson challenges the concepts of “home” and “the black church” as the centers of value for African American religious experience. He tells intensely personal narratives of how violence interrupts African Americans homes, and how sexual and gender politics render black churches oppressive for many Af- rican Americans. This section rings a tragic note as the reader sees how some particularities of lived experience not only diminish our humanity, but also negate some of the most central assertions of black religious studies. Anderson’s optimism emerges in his concept of “Beloved Community.” Be- loved Community occurs in “the concrete actualization of creative exchange with the past, present and future of Christian faith in community” (viii). When we are able to enlarge ourselves beyond the particularities that usually bind us, and live our transcendence, justice and goods in this world of n fi itude, Beloved Community is present. It is a kind of eschatology. It is the regulative ideal and actual events. Because Beloved Community can erupt, even in the midst of narratives like those Anderson recounts, he can still name “home” and “black church” as centers of value for African American religious experience. Thank-

Journal

American Journal of Theology & PhilosophyUniversity of Illinois Press

Published: Jul 13, 2010

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