The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology

541 Pages·2014·3.52 MB·English

by  Katie G. Cannon

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF
A F R I C A N
A M E R I C A N
T H E O L O G Y

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
THEOLOGY
Edited by
KATIE G. CANNON
and
ANTHONY B. PINN
1
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oxford handbook of African American theology / Katie G. Cannon and Anthony B. Pinn,
editors.—1 [edition].
pages cm
ISBN 978–0–19–975565–3 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-19-998310-0 (online content) 1. Black
theology. I. Cannon, Katie G., editor of compilation.
BT82.7.O94 2014
230.089'96073—dc23
2013043634
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
List of Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Anthony B. Pinn and Katie G. Cannon
SECTION I SOURCES
1. African American History and African American Theology 15
Stephen C. Finley
2. Reading and Using Scripture in the African American Tradition 27
Allen Dwight Callahan
3. African American Religious Experience  40
M. Shawn Copeland 
4. The African American Christian Tradition 68
Sylvester Johnson
5. Culture/Cultural Production and African American Theology 85
Clarence E. Hardy III
6. Reason in African American Theology 96
Terrence L. Johnson
7. Theoretical Commitments in African American Theology 110
Edward P. Antonio
8. Methodologies in African American Theology 124
Frederick L. Ware
SECTION II DOCTRINES
9. Doctrine of God in African American Theology 139
Keri Day
vi Contents
10. Christology in African American Theology 153
Diana L. Hayes
11. The Holy Spirit in African American Theology 164
James H. Evans Jr.
12. Humanity in African American Theology 174
J. Kameron Carter
13. World/Creation in African American Theology 185
Torin Alexander
14. Liberation in African American Theology 200
Juan M. Floyd-Thomas
15. Evil and Sin in African American Theology 212
Larry G. Murphy
16. The Church in African American Theology 228
R. Drew Smith
17. Eschatology in African American Theology 242
Derek S. Hicks
18. Heaven and Hell in African American Theology 253
E. Marshall Turman
SECTION III INTERNAL DEBATES
19. Womanist Theology as a Corrective to African American Theology 267
Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan
20. Humanism in African American Theology 280
Anthony B. Pinn
21. Audiences of Accountability in African American Theology 292
Dennis W. Wiley
22. Embodiment in African American Theology 308
Stephanie Y. Mitchem
23. Pedagogical Praxis in African American Theology  319
Katie G. Cannon
Contents vii
24. Religious Pluralism and African American Theology 331
Dianne M. Stewart Diakité
25. Sexuality in African American Theology 351
Horace Griffin
SECTION IV ONGOING CHALLENGES
26. The Problem of History in African American Theology 363
Lewis R. Gordon
27. Social Theory and African American Theology 377
Corey D. B. Walker
28. Black Ontology and Theology 390
Victor Anderson
29. African American Theology and the Global Economy 402
Anthony G. Reddie
30. African American Theology and the American Hemisphere 415
Josef Sorett
31. The African in African American Theology 431
Peter J. Paris
SECTION V PROSPECTS FOR
THE FUTURE
32. Prosperity Gospel and African American Theology 453
Jonathan L. Walton
33. African American Theology and the Public Imaginary 468
Willie James Jennings
34. Cultural Boundaries and African American Theology 480
Emilie M. Townes
Index 491

List of Contributors
Torin Alexander is Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College.
Victor Anderson is Oberlin Theological School Professor of Ethics and Society at
Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is also Professor and Director of the Program
in African American and Diaspora Studies.
Edward P. Antonio is Harvey H. Potthoff Associate Professor of Christian Theology
and Social Theory, and also Associate Dean of Diversities and Director of Justice and
Peace Programs at Iliff School of Theology.
Allen Dwight Callahan is a writer, translator, and independent scholar living and
working in Brazil.
Katie G. Cannon is Annie Scales Rogers Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of
the Womanist Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary.
J. Kameron Carter is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Black Church
Studies at Duke University Divinity School.
M. Shawn Copeland is Professor of Theology at Boston College.
Keri Day is Assistant Professor of Theological and Social Ethics and Black Church
Studies at Brite Divinity School.
Dianne M. Stewart Diakité is Associate Professor of Religion at Emory University.
James H. Evans Jr. is Robert K. Davies Professor of Systematic Theology at Colgate
Rochester Divinity School.
Stephen C. Finley is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and African American
Studies at Louisiana State University.
Juan M. Floyd-Thomas is Associate Professor of African American Religious History
at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
Lewis R. Gordon teaches in the Department of Philosophy, the Africana Studies
Institute, and the Center for Judaic Studies and Jewish Life at the University of
Connecticut at Storrs.