Yale University Library Research Guides: African American Religious History: Spirituality

Introduction

The Black Church in America: African American Christian Spirituality by Michael Battle Explores the history of the Black Church in America, its African roots, beliefs, practices, politics, and contemporary moral dilemmas Argues that in the Black Church, individual and communal destiny are bound together
Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality by Diana Hayes Describes the origins of African American spirituality, developments during slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the periods of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement; the manifestations of this spirituality in music and in the Black churches; the particular contributions of Black women; and the spirituality of key Black leaders.
Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church by Barbara Holmes Looks at how contemplative experience are built into African American collective worship but also the legacy of African monasticism, a history of spiritual exemplars, and unique meditative worship practices.
Soul Survivors: An African American Spirituality by Carlyle Fielding Stewart An introduction to African American spirituality.

Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans by James M. Washington A collection of 200 prayers, poems, hymns, and stories by authors ranging from the famous to the unknown.
The Mount of Vision: African American Prophetic Tradition, 1800-1950 (Online) by Christopher Z. Hobson A study of prophetic traditions in African American religion. Drawing on contemporary speeches, essays, sermons, reminiscences, and works of theological speculation from 1800 to 1950, he shows how African American prophets shared a belief in a''God of the oppressed."
Resurrection Song: African-American Spirituality by Flora Wilson Bridges Explores the central role of spirituality in African-American culture and history, arguing that its roots lie in the African spiritual worldview inherited by African-Americans.
The Spirituality of African Peoples: The Search for a Common Moral Discourse by Peter J. Paris Searches for African "spirituality", that is, the religious and moral values embodied in African experience and pervading traditional African religious worldviews. From extensive comparative research and personal travel, Paris shows how such values were retained and modified in the diaspora, most notably in African American religious and moral thought and its practice.
The Way of the Mystics by Howard Thurman; Peter R. Eisenstadt; Walter E. Fluker Highlights a sermon series by Thurman on the mystics.

Another World Is Possible: Spiritualities and Religions of Global Darker Peoples by Dwight N. Hopkins; Marjorie Lewis A range of essays treating the religious experiences of the marginalized from around the globe, including Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and the United States. An account of the ways that indigenous and the oppressed have thought about and mobilized religion in reconstructing identity and toward the ends of social justice.
Honoring the Ancestors: An African Cultural Interpretation of Black Religion and Literature (Online) by Donald H. Matthews Argues for the African foundation of African-American religious practice. His analysis of the methods employed by historians, social scientists, and literary critics in the study of African-American religion and the Negro spiritual leads him to develop a methodology that encompasses contemporary scholarship without compromising the integrity of African-American religion and culture.
No Crystal Stair: Womanist Spirituality by Diana L. Hayes In this collection of essays, prayers, and meditations, Diana Hayes lays the foundation of womanist spirituality in the lived faith and struggles of African American women.
Urban God Talk: Constructing a Hip Hop Spirituality (Online) by Andre E. Johnson (Editor) A collection of essays that examine the religious and spiritual in hip hop. The contributors argue that the prevailing narrative that hip hop offers nothing in the way of religion and spirituality is false.