Try free for 30 days
-
The Black Church
- This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $21.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Divided Mind of the Black Church
- Theology, Piety, and Public Witness
- By: Raphael G. Warnock
- Narrated by: Terrence Kidd
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is the true nature and mission of the church? Is its proper Christian purpose to save souls, or to transform the social order? This question is especially fraught when the church is one built by an enslaved people and formed, from its beginning, at the center of an oppressed community's fight for personhood and freedom. Such is the central tension in the identity and mission of the Black church in the United States.
-
Slave Religion
- The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South
- By: Albert J. Raboteau
- Narrated by: Rodney Louis Tompkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years after its original publication, Slave Religion remains a classic in the study of African American history and religion. Using a variety of first and secondhand sources - some objective, some personal, all riveting - Raboteau analyzes the transformation of the African religions into evangelical Christianity. He presents the narratives of the slaves themselves, as well as missionary reports, travel accounts, folklore, Black autobiographies, and the journals of White observers to describe the day-to-day religious life in the slave communities.
-
Jesus and the Disinherited
- By: Howard Thurman, Dr. Kelly Douglas Rev.
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. Jesus is a partner in the pain of the oppressed and the example of His life offers a solution to ending the descent into moral nihilism. Hatred does not empower—it decays. Only through self-love and love of one another can God's justice prevail.
-
God of the Oppressed
- By: James H. Cone
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his reflections on God, Jesus, suffering, and liberation, James H. Cone relates the gospel message to the experience of the Black community. But a wider theme of the book is the role that social and historical context plays in framing the questions we address to God as well as the mode of the answers provided.
-
The Color of Compromise
- The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
- By: Jemar Tisby
- Narrated by: Jemar Tisby, Justin Henry - foreword
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Color of Compromise takes listeners on a historical journey: from America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War, covering the tragedy of Jim Crow laws and the victories of the Civil Rights era, to today's Black Lives Matter movement. Author Jemar Tisby reveals the obvious - and the far more subtle - ways the American church has compromised what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality.
-
-
History with an unnecessary addition
- By Joshua on 13-02-2019
-
Black AF History
- The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
- By: Michael Harriot
- Narrated by: Michael Harriot
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights—after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie. In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history.
-
The Divided Mind of the Black Church
- Theology, Piety, and Public Witness
- By: Raphael G. Warnock
- Narrated by: Terrence Kidd
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is the true nature and mission of the church? Is its proper Christian purpose to save souls, or to transform the social order? This question is especially fraught when the church is one built by an enslaved people and formed, from its beginning, at the center of an oppressed community's fight for personhood and freedom. Such is the central tension in the identity and mission of the Black church in the United States.
-
Slave Religion
- The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South
- By: Albert J. Raboteau
- Narrated by: Rodney Louis Tompkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years after its original publication, Slave Religion remains a classic in the study of African American history and religion. Using a variety of first and secondhand sources - some objective, some personal, all riveting - Raboteau analyzes the transformation of the African religions into evangelical Christianity. He presents the narratives of the slaves themselves, as well as missionary reports, travel accounts, folklore, Black autobiographies, and the journals of White observers to describe the day-to-day religious life in the slave communities.
-
Jesus and the Disinherited
- By: Howard Thurman, Dr. Kelly Douglas Rev.
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. Jesus is a partner in the pain of the oppressed and the example of His life offers a solution to ending the descent into moral nihilism. Hatred does not empower—it decays. Only through self-love and love of one another can God's justice prevail.
-
God of the Oppressed
- By: James H. Cone
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his reflections on God, Jesus, suffering, and liberation, James H. Cone relates the gospel message to the experience of the Black community. But a wider theme of the book is the role that social and historical context plays in framing the questions we address to God as well as the mode of the answers provided.
-
The Color of Compromise
- The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
- By: Jemar Tisby
- Narrated by: Jemar Tisby, Justin Henry - foreword
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Color of Compromise takes listeners on a historical journey: from America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War, covering the tragedy of Jim Crow laws and the victories of the Civil Rights era, to today's Black Lives Matter movement. Author Jemar Tisby reveals the obvious - and the far more subtle - ways the American church has compromised what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality.
-
-
History with an unnecessary addition
- By Joshua on 13-02-2019
-
Black AF History
- The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
- By: Michael Harriot
- Narrated by: Michael Harriot
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights—after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie. In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history.
-
Urban Apologetics
- Restoring Black Dignity with the Gospel
- By: Eric Mason
- Narrated by: Isaiah Young
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many young African Americans are disinterested in Christianity and others are leaving the church in search of what these false religious ideas appear to offer, a spirituality more indigenous to their history and ethnicity. Edited by Dr. Eric Mason and featuring a top-notch lineup of contributors, Urban Apologetics is the first book focused entirely on cults, religious groups, and ethnocentric ideologies prevalent in the black community.
-
-
White guy cheering my black brothers & sisters.
- By Ryan O'Connor on 22-06-2022
-
On Juneteenth
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.
-
The Invisible Ache
- Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power
- By: Courtney B. Vance, Dr. Robin L. Smith
- Narrated by: Courtney B. Vance, Dr. Robin L. Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early in his career, actor Courtney B. Vance lost his father to suicide. Recently, he lost his godson to the same fate. Still, as mental health discourse hits the mainstream, it leaves the most vulnerable out of the conversation: Black men. In America, we teach that strength means holding back tears and shaming your own feelings. In the Black community, these pressures are especially poignant. Together, Courtney and Dr. Robin provide a guide for Black men navigating life’s ups and downs, reclaiming mental well-being, and examining broken pieces to find whole, full-hearted living.
-
The Cross and the Lynching Tree
- By: James H. Cone
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk.
-
-
Essential Reading
- By Alan on 04-12-2021
-
Black Fortunes
- The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires
- By: Shomari Wills
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The astonishing untold history of America's first Black millionaires - former slaves who endured incredible challenges to amass and maintain their wealth for a century, from the Jacksonian period to the Roaring '20s - self-made entrepreneurs whose unknown success mirrored that of American business heroes such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison.
-
Bayard Rustin
- A Legacy of Protest and Politics
- By: Michael G. Long
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While we can all recall Martin Luther King Jr. giving his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of a massive crowd at Lincoln Memorial, few of us remember the man who organized this watershed nonviolent protest in eight short weeks: Bayard Rustin. This was far from Rustin's first foray into the fight for civil rights. As a world-traveling pacifist, he brought Gandhi's protest techniques to the forefront of US civil rights demonstrations, helped build the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led the fight for economic justice, and played a deeply influential role in the life of Dr. King.
-
The Power of Preaching
- Crafting a Creative Expository Sermon
- By: Tony Evans
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book in the Kingdom Pastor’s Library from Tony Evans, The Power of Preaching will help you be faithful to the word of God and preach with power and conviction. From the practice of preparation to learning to choose subjects wisely, this book offers brings you a preaching education from one of the most trusted and effective voices in ministry.
-
The Grift
- The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
- By: Clay Cane
- Narrated by: Clay Cane
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the Civil War, the pillars of Black Republicanism were a balanced critique of both political parties, civil rights for all Americans, reinventing an economy based on exploitation, and, most importantly, building thriving Black communities. How did Black Republicanism devolve from revolutionaries like Frederick Douglass to the puppets in the Trump era?
-
The Souls of Black Folk
- Essays and Sketches
- By: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
- Narrated by: Alan Munro
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African American literature. Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African American in American society. Outside of its notable relevance in African American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology.
-
Black on Black
- On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America
- By: Daniel Black
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed novelist and scholar Daniel Black has spent a career writing into the unspoken, fleshing out, through storytelling, pain that can’t be described. Now, in his debut essay collection, Black gives voice to the experiences of those who often find themselves on the margins.
-
Voices Long Silenced
- Women Biblical Interpreters Through the Centuries
- By: Marion Ann Taylor, Joy A. Schroeder
- Narrated by: Lisa Larsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hundreds of women studied and interpreted the Bible between the years 100-2000 CE, but their stories have remained largely untold. In this book, Schroeder and Taylor introduce listeners to the notable contributions of female commentators through the centuries. They unearth fascinating accounts of Jewish and Christian women from diverse communities—rabbinic experts, nuns, mothers, mystics, preachers, teachers, suffragists, and household managers—who interpreted Scripture through their writings.
-
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
Publisher's Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Stony the Road and one of our most important voices on the African-American experience, a powerful new history of the Black church in America as the Black community's abiding rock and its fortress.
The companion book to the upcoming PBS series.
For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, segregated West Virginia town, the church was his family and his community's true center of gravity. Within those walls, voices were lifted up in song to call forth the best in each other, and to comfort each other when times were at their worst. In this book, his tender and magisterial reckoning with the meaning of the Black church in American history, Gates takes us from his own experience onto a journey across more than 400 years and spanning the entire country. At road's end, we emerge with a new understanding of the centrality of the Black church to the American story - as a cultural and political force, as the center of resistance to slavery and White supremacy, as an unparalleled incubator of talent, and as a crucible for working through the community's most important issues, down to today.
In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black church has always been more than a sanctuary; it's been a place to nourish the deepest human needs and dreams of the African-American community. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: From the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meeting houses were subject to surveillance, and often destruction. So it continued, long after slavery's formal eradication; church burnings and church bombings by the Ku Klux Klan and others have always been a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the struggle for equality for the African-American community. The past often isn't even past - Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in Charleston's Emanuel AME Church 193 years after the church was first burned down by whites following a thwarted slave rebellion.
But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the vital center of the civil rights movement, and produced many of its leaders, from the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., on, but at the same time there have always been churches and sects that eschewed a more activist stance, even eschewed worldly political engagement altogether. That tension can be felt all the way to the Black Lives Matter movement and the work of today. Still and all, as a source of strength and a force for change, the Black church is at the center of the action at every stage of the American story, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.
*This audiobook includes a PDF of the Appendix and Acknowledgments from the book.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
“Sweeping, vivid.... The eminent Harvard historian and connoisseur of American lives [Henry Louis Gates, Jr.] turns his compassionate gaze to the black church, illuminating a pantheon of good shepherds who brought a fierce social conscience to the Lord’s work. Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Barbara Hale, recently-elected Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock: all spring to life as spiritual visionaries and carpenters of the arc of justice.” (Oprah Magazine)
“Gates combines reflections on his childhood with centuries of history in his thoughtful examination of the Black church in America. Blending research, interviews with scholars and insights from his own life, Gates illuminates the central role of the Black church in the movement for social justice and the support network it has been for a community often in need of safe spaces.... [The Black Church] is as comprehensive as it is celebratory.” (Time)
“A brisk and insightful look at how the Black church has succored generations of African Americans against white supremacy.... Punctuated by trenchant observations from Black historians and theologians, Gates’s crisp account places religious life at the center of the African-American experience.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has once again delved deep into the doings and sufferings of Black people in the USA! This time he gives us a rich story and riveting song of the profound forms of spirituality and musicality that sustained Black sanity and dignity. Although Gates rightly highlights the centrality of the ambiguous legacy of the Black Church, he also explores the crucial realities of Islam and other non-Christian religious practices. And the last powerful and playful chapter on his personal dance with an elusive Holy Ghost lays bare his own signifying genius grounded in a genuine love of Black people and culture!” (Cornel West)