Something Within Religion in African-American Political Activism

by Harris, Fredrick C.

• ISBN13: 9780195120332
• ISBN10: 0195120337
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-08-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

One of the first book-length studies devoted to religion and African-American political activism in a generation, Something Within explores how Afro-Christianity, in various ways, promotes the political activism of African-Americans. Combining ethnography, history, contextual analysis, and survey research, this book illustrates the participatory effects of Afro-Christianity by examining its institutional, psychological, and cultural influences. Going beyond the opiate-inspiration debate that has dominated research on the subject, Author Fredrick C. Harris advances a new theory of religion as a political resource for a "civic culture in opposition."

Author Biography

Fredrick C. Harris is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(12)
When a Little Becomes Much: Religious Resources in Action	12	(15)
Prophetic Fragments: Macro and Micro Foundations of Religious Resources	27	(15)
Religion Reconsidered: Black Protest and Electoral Activism in an Age of Transformation	42	(27)
Blessed Assurance: Religion, Personal Empowerment, and African-American Political Activism	69	(17)
Rock in a Weary Land: Religious Institutions and African-American Political Activism	86	(35)
Ties That Bind: Linking Religion and Intermediary Resources to Political Action	121	(12)
The Last Shall Be First: Religion, Oppositional Culture, and African-American Political Mobilization	133	(21)
In My Father's House: Religion and Gender in African-American Political Life	154	(23)
Epilogue. It Remains to Be Seen: Stability and Change in Religion and African-American Politics	177	(10)
Appendix A	187	(4)
Appendix B	191	(4)
Notes	195	(12)
References	207	(14)
Index	221