Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and Social Reform / Edition 1

by Andrew Billingsley

Overview

Throughout the history of the African American people there has been no stronger resource for overcoming adversity than the black church. From its role in leading a group of free Blacks to form a colony in Sierra Leone in the 1790s to helping ex-slaves after the Civil War, and from playing major roles in the Civil Rights Movement to offering community outreach programs in American cities today, black churches have been the focal point of social change in their communities. Based on extensive research over several years, Mighty Like a River is the first comprehensive account of how black churches have helped shape American society.
An expert in African American culture, Andrew Billingsley surveys nearly a thousand black churches across the country, including its oldest, the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia. These black churches, whose roots extend back to antebellum times, have periodically confronted social, economic, and political problems facing the African American community. Mighty Like a River addresses such questions as: How widespread and effective is the community activity of black churches? What are the patterns of activities being undertaken today? How do activist churches confront such problems as family instability, youth development, AIDS and other health issues, and care for the elderly?
With profiles of the remarkable black heroes and heroines who helped create the activist church, and a compelling agenda for expanding the black church's role in society at large, Mighty Like a River is an inspirational, visionary, and definitive account of the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195161793
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/23/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.04(w) x 5.76(h) x 0.85(d)
Lexile:	1310L (what's this?)

About the Author

Andrew Billingsley, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Sociology, African American Studies, and the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina, is the author of six books of sociology, including Children of the Storm, Black Families in White America, and Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Enduring Legacy of African American Families.

Editorial Reviews

"Billingsley has written a short book on a mighty theme.... It is amazing how much ground he covers.... His book transcends time and place to present a narrative that is both compelling and fascinating."—Library Journal

"As a leading scholar of the black family, Billingsley has succeeded in integrating his analysis of black churches with family concerns. He has important data on the response of black churches to the crises of HIV/Aids and of black young men. This book is highly recommended for courses on black churches, families and community issues."—Lawrence H. Mamiya, Paschall Davis Professor of African Studies and Religion at Vassar College and co-author of The Black Church in the African American Experience

From the Publisher

Billingsley (sociology/African American studies, Univ. of South Carolina) has written a short book on a mighty theme: the black church as a major influencing factor in the black community for promoting the general good and a driving force for equality and righteousness. It is amazing how much ground he covers. Part historical document, part sociological study, part journalistic reporting with numerous case studies, his book transcends time and place to present a narrative that is both compelling and fascinating. Billingsley begins with the many antebellum black churches and their periodic battles against the overwhelmingly powerful advocates of slavery, then carries this story to the modern-day black church and its nearly constant battles to secure political and economic rights for the black community. He then effortlessly ties together the tasks of both churches, showing how they are actually the same. The book reaches another level at the end as it calls for continued and relentless black church activism to tackle the enduring problems of modern American society. Recommended for all libraries.--Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal