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The spiritual lives of young African Americans PDF

353 Pages·2017·1.66 MB·English
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i The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans ii i ii The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans z ALMEDA M. WRIGHT 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excelence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2017 Al rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmited, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permited by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Wright, Almeda M., author. Title: The spiritual lives of young African Americans / Almeda M. Wright. Description: New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2017] Identifers: LCCN 2016042333 (print) | LCCN 2017017849 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190664749 (updf) | ISBN 9780190664756 (epub) | ISBN 9780190664732 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: African American youth—Religious life. | Adolescence—Religious aspects—Christianity. Classifcation: LCC BR563.N4 (ebook) | LCC BR563.N4 W655 2017 (print) | DDC 248.4089/96073—dc23 LC record available at htps://lccn.loc.gov/2016042333 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v To my frst religious educators, my parents William and Lula Wright. And to every young person for whom LIVING is not an easy or obvious option. vi v i Contents Acknowledgments  ix Permissions  xiii Introduction: Overwhelmed  1 1. Talking Fragments: Fragmented Spirituality in Black Youth and Churches  17 2. Fragmentation in Context: Psychological and Sociological Dimensions of Fragmentation  68 3. Tapping into the Legacy: African American Spirituality and Theological Alternatives to Fragmented Spirituality  94 4. Does God Care?: Evil, Sufering, and an Insufcient Theodicy  121 5. Being Young, Active, and Faithful: Black Youth Activism Reshaping Black Christian Social Witness  154 6 . Choosing Life with Youth: Vision and Strategies of Abundant Life  198 Conclusion  237 Appendix A: Youth Interview and Survey Questions  247 Appendix B: Curriculum and Sermon Review Methodology  257 Notes  263 Index  313 vi i x Acknowledgments Among my circle of colleagues there is a common adage that it takes a village to raise a scholar. Throughout this research and book project, that has proven to be true over and over. I owe a wealth of gratitude to my village— the many people who assisted and supported this project in innumerable ways: from trusted mentors who believed in the work to the young people who shared their lives and wisdom. As I have been wrestling with this project for almost a decade, I have several villages to thank for their support and encouragement along the way. First, I am grateful to Cynthia Read and the editorial staf at Oxford University Press. I am grateful to my Emory University family and colleagues, where the seeds of this research were planted. Most especially to Dr. Emmanuel Lartey and Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore for their leadership and patience in reading the earliest iterations of this project and pushing me to carry on. Likewise, I am grateful to the many young people, faculty and gradu- ate students at the Youth Theological Initiative. I am indebted to Elizabeth Corrie and Brenda Bennefeld, for their leadership, as well as Catrice Glenn and Anjulet Tucker for helping to create research instruments and conduct interviews. The youth interview transcription would not have been possible without the generous funding of the Lilly Endowment through the Emory concentration on Religious Practices and Practical Theology. I am also grateful to my faculty colleagues and students at Pfeifer University. This was one of the frst places I got to “try out” my ideas and you will never know how much it meant to have students working in youth ministry giving direct feedback (and challenge) to my ideas for how to help youth and young adults. Thank you for pushing me. I am also truly grateful to my Yale Divinity School (YDS) village. I am grateful to Dean Gregory Sterling for the generous support and fund- ing for sabbatical research to complete the manuscript. I have also been

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