Black Preaching

Worship among black Americans has always centered around and been dominated by the Sunday sermon. The purpose of this book is to explore that phenomenon, not in its theory, but in its practice and under the aspect of the specific difference of black preaching. It begins by defining "black" and "preaching" and then sketches the history of black preaching as such. The body of the text deals with the subject proper: the framework within which the black clergyman preaches and the language and style which Ire employs; the essence of the black sermon, with (lengthy) examples of black preaching at its best. A concluding section sets out the theological rationale for specifically black preaching, reiterates the need for it, and notes the points of difference between a typical "white" sermon and its "black" counterpart. The book, obviously, may be read at two levels: as a text in hermeneutics for both black and white preachers on the techniques and uses of the effective, basically narrative style of preaching; and as a book which explains and analyzes very effectively a religious phenomenon which, for all its importance, is alien to most white Christians. At both levels, it is a remarkably interesting volume, even with its faults: a proclivity for the jargonesque ("Blackamericans"), and a tendency to assume that everything in black preaching is unique to black preaching. (Kirkus Reviews)