Churches, Blackness, and Contested Multiculturalism: Europe, Africa, and North America (Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice)

This volume assesses contemporary church responses to multicultural diversity and resisted categories of social difference, with a central focus on whether or how racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, and gender differences are validated by churches (and especially black churches) torn between competing inclusive and exclusive tendencies. Christianity's numerical, cultural, and political predominance within Europe, North America, and the former colonial capitals of Africa has been challenged in recent decades by reconfigured social dynamics and demographics within these contexts. As large numbers of persons from Africa, Asia, and Latin America have migrated to Europe and North America, these contexts once deeply rooted in white Christian identity are being racially and religiously transformed, with embodiments and articulations of increased social difference viewed as an indicator of either healthy diversities or harmful divisions - depending upon the vantage point. Churches, Blackness, and Contested Multiculturalism assesses contemporary church responses to multicultural diversity and resisted categories of social difference, with a central focus on whether or how racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, and gender differences are validated by churches (and especially black churches) torn between competing inclusive and exclusive tendencies Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Anti-Black Problematics in Imperial and Contemporary British Christianity....Pages 11-30 Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Multiculturalisms and Black Christianities in Canada....Pages 31-46 The Changing Roles of Women in the Church: A Case Study of Women in Calabar, Nigeria, 1900–2000....Pages 47-56 William Stuart Nelson and the Interfaith Origins of the Civil Rights Movement....Pages 57-72 Front Matter....Pages 73-73 The Significance of Multicultural Churches in Britain: A Case Study of Crofton Park Baptist Church....Pages 75-85 Churches, Multiculturalism, and Justice in Canada: An Anglican Perspective....Pages 87-101 The Changing Demographics of Global Christianity: The Case of West African Immigrants within the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference in the Mennonite Church, United States....Pages 103-114 Balancing Christianity, Culture, and Race: African Pentecostals in Italy....Pages 115-132 Identity and Ecumenical Partnership of Churches of African Origin in Germany....Pages 133-144 Ministry as Bridge Building: Facilitating Culturally Diverse Faith Communities in South Africa....Pages 145-156 The Language of “Diversity” in Reconstructing Whiteness in the Dutch Reformed Church....Pages 157-170 A Multicultural Theology of Difference: A Practical Theological Perspective....Pages 171-189 Front Matter....Pages 191-191 London’s Burning: Riots, Gangs, and Moral Formation of Young People....Pages 193-205 Life-Giving Assets at a Johannesburg Informal Settlement: Black Faith and the False Gods of Multiculturalism in the Twenty-First Century....Pages 207-215 Inspired Hymns as a Belief System in the Kimbanguist Church: A Revelation of the Meanings of Blackness....Pages 217-233 Whose Black Church? Voices of Oppression and Resistance in Response to the Murder of a “Gay” Black Teenager....Pages 235-249 Black Churches, Moral Panic, and the Empowerment of Black Youth in the Era of Hip-Hop....Pages 251-264 Back Matter....Pages 265-294 Christianity's numerical, cultural, and political predominance within Europe, North America, and the former colonial capitals of Africa has been challenged in recent decades by reconfigured social dynamics and demographics within these contexts. As large numbers of persons from Africa, Asia, and Latin America have migrated to Europe and North America, these contexts once deeply rooted in white Christian identity are being racially and religiously transformed, with embodiments and articulations of increased social difference viewed as an indicator of either healthy diversities or harmful divisions--depending upon the vantage point. Churches, Blackness, and Contested Multiculturalism assesses contemporary church responses to multicultural diversity and resisted categories of social difference, with a central focus on whether or how racial, ethnic, sexual, and gander differences are validated by churches (and especially black churches) torn between competing inclusive and exclusive tendencies. (Back cover)