Black Religion and Aesthetics: Religious Thought and Life in Africa and the African Diaspora

✍ Scribed by Anthony B. Pinn

• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 233
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

A great deal of attention has been given to the sociopolitical and theological importance of Black Religion. However, of less academic concern up to this point is the aesthetic qualities that define much of what is said and done within the context of Black Religion. Recognizing the centrality of the black body for black religious thought and life, this book proposes a conversation concerning various dimensions of the aesthetic considerations and qualities of Black Religion as found in various parts of the world, including the the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe.  In this respect, Black Religion is simply meant to connote the religious orientations and arrangements of people of African descent across the globe.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Introduction: The Black Labyrinth, Aesthetics, and Black Religion......Page 14
Part 1 North and South America......Page 30
1 A Beautiful Be-ing: Religious Humanism and the Aesthetics of a New Salvation......Page 32
2 The Foolish Woman Grows Angry Because They Teach Her: Influences of Sexism in Black Church Worship......Page 50
3 Spiritual Matters: The Aesthetics of Ritual Substances in Umbanda......Page 66
4 From Hattie to Halle: Black Female Bodies and Spectatorship as Ritual in Hollywood Cinema......Page 84
Part 2 The Caribbean......Page 102
5 Sacred Forms: Ritual, Representation, and the Body in Haitian Painting......Page 104
6 Dancing with Ochún: Imagining How a Black Goddess Became White......Page 126
Part 3 Europe......Page 146
7 Black Suit Matters: Faith, Politics, and Representation in the Religious Documentary......Page 148
8 A Dialectical Spirituality of Improvisation: The Ambiguity of Black Engagements with Sacred Texts......Page 166
Part 4 Africa......Page 186
9 The Aesthetic Dimensions of Religion in South Africa: Africa Initiated Churches Considered......Page 188
10 Aesthetics in African Art: Implications for African Theology......Page 200
Selected Bibliography......Page 218
B......Page 226
D......Page 228
G......Page 229
M......Page 230
R......Page 231
T......Page 232
Y......Page 233