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African American religion

The Author’s Corner with Jeffrey E. Anderson

Rachel Petroziello   |  April 4, 2024

Jeffrey E. Anderson is Professor of History and Associate Director of the School of Humanities at the University of Louisiana Monroe. This interview is based on his new book, Voodoo: An African American Religion (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led […]

The Author’s Corner with Leah Mickens

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 15, 2022

Leah Mickens is August Wilson Project Archivist at the University of Pittsburgh. This interview is based on her new book, In the Shadow of Ebenezer: A Black Catholic Parish in the Age of Civil Rights and Vatican II (NYU Press, […]

The Author’s Corner with Jeroen Dewulf

Rachel Petroziello   |  August 19, 2022

Jeroen Dewulf is Queen Beatrix Professor in the Department of German & Dutch Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. This interview is based on his new book, Afro-Atlantic Catholics: America’s First Black Christians (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022). […]

Bringing the Bible to the Jim Crow South

John Fea   |  February 8, 2022

In 1900, Henry Nelson Payne, a missionary and president of Mary Holmes Seminary in West Point, Mississippi, a school for Black women, was frustrated that many Bible societies in the former Confederacy were not willing to distribute Bibles to African […]

Albert Raboteau, RIP

John Fea   |  September 29, 2021

Princeton University religion professor Albert Raboteau‘s book Slave Religion was the first book I ever read on the history of the religion and the African American experience. Here is Adelle Banks at Religion News Service: Albert J. Raboteau, an American […]

Evangelical leader Tony Evans offers “Kingdom race theology” as an an alternative to “critical race theory”

John Fea   |  July 27, 2021

Evans recently gave a two-part presentation on the subject at his Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. Here is Part 1: Here is Part 2: A couple of quick thoughts: First, Evans clearly believes in systemic racism and the value […]

Video of the day:

John Fea   |  June 17, 2021

Amazing Grace:

Episode 3: “The Audacity to Hope”

John Fea   |  May 4, 2021

Barack Obama’s pastor is known for three sermons. In this episode, we put them in historical context. Episode 3: ā€œThe Audacity to Hopeā€ (our fourth episode) dropped last night. Subscribers toĀ CurrentĀ at the Longshore level and above receiveĀ this brand new narrative […]

Episode 2 of “A History of Evangelicals and Politics” podcast is here!

John Fea   |  April 27, 2021

Episode 2: ā€œObama Goes to Church” (our third episode) dropped last night. Subscribers toĀ CurrentĀ at the Longshore level and above receiveĀ this brand new narrative history podcast. In this episode I talk about Obama’s first encounter with Jeremiah Wright and what the […]

Jeremiah Wright Jr. on Ben Carson, circa 1990s

John Fea   |  April 24, 2021

How things change. Today I was reading some of Jeremiah Wright‘s sermons and came across this line in a sermon titled “Good News for Good Parents”: When all the boys want to wear their pants halfway down their hips with […]