Is the Black Church Dead

Religious Resilience and the Contemporary Functions of Black Christianity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3354801
AutoresAllen (0000-0001-6872-2219, Dartmouth College, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume14
Fascículo4
Páginas460
Data de publicação2023-03-29
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14040460
OpenAlexW4361275514
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas52

Recent sociological literature draws attention to the changes in religious affiliation and expression among younger generations. More specifically, extant research suggests that the increase in religious "nones" (those who no longer identify with a religion) and "dones" (those who no longer affiliate with a religious congregation) substantiates the secularization thesis which contends that religion is becoming increasingly insignificant in modern society. However, when these trends are disaggregated across racial lines, religious affiliation remains high among Black Millennials. The present study explores this anomaly further, drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 65 Black Christian Millennials to assess how, if at all, the historic functions of the Black Church are still prevalent among Black Christians today. Findings suggest that while some functions have remained constant across generations (i.e., social-cultural), others have evolved (i.e., socio-political and socio-educational) or become defunct (i.e., socio-economic) and new functions have emerged (i.e., socio-emotional). As such, I introduce the concept religious resilience as a framework for understanding how and why a religion's "afterlife" is sustained despite macro-level processes that might undermine its prominence. Altogether, this study has implications for how we conceptualize racialized religion and how we measure, operationalize, and understand religious expression across social locations

Afterlife · Christianity · Epistemology · Extant taxon · Flemish · Geography · Operationalization · Political science · Politics · Psychological resilience · Secularization · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology