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.
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.
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.