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What's Faith Got to Do with It?: Black Bodies/Christian Souls
A black Episcopal priest and theologian explores the history of "platonized" Christianity that results in distortions of the Gospels, including racism, classicism, sexism and the violence they inspire and condone.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2005
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202 people want to read
About the author
Kelly Brown Douglas
33 books72 followersKelly Delaine Brown Douglas is an African-American Episcopal priest, womanist theologian, and the inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She is also the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral.
In 1995 Kelly was awarded Denison’s Grace Lyon Alumnae Award, presented to distinguished female graduates by the Department of Women’s Studies and the Office of Women’s Programs. She was also the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships during her student years. Kelly is an active participant in the Ecumenical Associate of Third World Theologians, the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and the American Academy of Religion.
In 1995 Kelly was awarded Denison’s Grace Lyon Alumnae Award, presented to distinguished female graduates by the Department of Women’s Studies and the Office of Women’s Programs. She was also the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships during her student years. Kelly is an active participant in the Ecumenical Associate of Third World Theologians, the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and the American Academy of Religion.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2017
I am glad that I read this. The book is divided into two parts, conceptually.
One part is how Christianity has been distorted to defend slavery and oppression. She tracks this to early Greek influences on early Church thinking and taps into a broader critique of the Europeanization of Christianity. I don't know enough to critique this one way or the other, but it does seem to give short shrift to the fact that Christianity seems to have emerged from a somewhat Hellenized Judaism. It also could compare with other Christianities (and other religions) that do or do not have those similar paths of oppression at the same time. All of that said, showing how Christianity was interpreted to support oppression is valuable.
The other part is answering the question of why she, as a black woman, can still be a Christian in light of all of that history. It is in effect an alternative reading of Christianity to what she has set up as a straw man in the European/Platonic Christianity. It provides some insight into a rich spirituality.
One part is how Christianity has been distorted to defend slavery and oppression. She tracks this to early Greek influences on early Church thinking and taps into a broader critique of the Europeanization of Christianity. I don't know enough to critique this one way or the other, but it does seem to give short shrift to the fact that Christianity seems to have emerged from a somewhat Hellenized Judaism. It also could compare with other Christianities (and other religions) that do or do not have those similar paths of oppression at the same time. All of that said, showing how Christianity was interpreted to support oppression is valuable.
The other part is answering the question of why she, as a black woman, can still be a Christian in light of all of that history. It is in effect an alternative reading of Christianity to what she has set up as a straw man in the European/Platonic Christianity. It provides some insight into a rich spirituality.
June 26, 2024
A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING
Kelly Brown Douglas is Professor of Religion at Goucher College, and is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. She formerly taught theology at Brown University. She is also the author of The Black Christ,Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective,Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant, and What's Faith Got to Do With It?: Black Bodies/Christian Souls.
She wrote in the Prologue of this 2015 book, “Why is it becoming increasingly acceptable to kill unarmed black children… why are they so easily perceived as a threat? How are we to keep our black children safe? As a mother of a black male child, I find these to be urgent questions. The slaying of Trayvon [Martin] struck a nerve deep within me… I knew that I had to seek answers. This book reflects my search for those answers.” (Pg. ix)
She continues in the Introduction, “This book will explore the social-cultural narratives that have given birth to our stand-your-ground culture and the religious canopies that have legitimated it. This stand-your-ground culture has produced and sustained slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, lynching, and other forms of racialized violence against black bodies. This book is an attempt to untangle the web of social, cultural, and theological discourse that contributes to stand-your-ground culture as well as to provide a theological response to the ideological assumptions that undergird this culture.” (Pg. xiii) She adds, “I do not attempt to resolve the many issues of stand-your-ground culture. This book is an invitation to engage in the hard soul searching needed if our country is ever to become a safer place for our black sons and daughters, and if we are to end the stand-your-ground culture war on the Trayvons, Jordans, Renishas, and Jonathans of our world.” (Pg. xv)
In the first chapter, she explains, “The underlying assumption of this book is that the seeds for Stand Your Ground law were planted ell before the founding of America. These seeds produced a myth of racial superiority that both determined America’s founding and defined its identity. This myth then gave way to America’s grand narrative of exceptionalism. This narrative… in turn constructed cherished property and generated a culture to shelter that property, thus ensuring that American remain ‘exceptional.’ I identify this culture as ‘stand-your-ground culture.’ This culture is itself generative. It has spawned various social-cultural devices---legal and extralegal, theoretical and ideological, political and theological—to preserve America’s primordial exceptional identity.” (Pg. 4)
She argues, “It is with the construction of whiteness as cherished property that a stand-your-ground culture is finally born. From the Anglo-Saxon myth of America’s exceptionalism to whiteness as cherished property comes a stand-your-ground culture… [which] is nothing other than the enactment of whiteness as cherished property. It is the culture the protects… white supremacy. Stand-your-ground culture spawns its own means, legal and extralegal, to ensure that nothing nonwhite intrudes on white space… [It] protects the rights that come with cherished white property. With this understanding, we can now answer the following question: ‘Could Trayvon have stood his ground on that sidewalk?’” (Pg. 44)
She observes, “Today, the Manifest Destiny stand-your-ground culture is fueled by the presence of a black man living in the White House. There is no greater challenge to America’s grand narrative of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism than a black president. This represent a complete encroachment upon the space reserved for cherished white property… the Stand Your Ground laws, in conjunction with the Conceal and Carry gun laws, have made legal a murderous act that was extralegal, that is, lynching. Our black children are falling victims to the twenty-first century version of stand-your-ground culture lynching. It is in this context that we must determine if going home was a viable option for Trayvon.” (Pg. 130-131)
She says, “The stand-your-ground culture is a story of two faiths. There is the faith of a father whose son was not the ‘collateral damage’ of the war but actually the target. There is also the faith of a nation whose very identity created the war that targeted Trayvon… The faith of a father points to an exodus God who is with a people through a wilderness journey to forge a new life. The faith of a nation signals an exodus God who is with a people through a wilderness journey to bring unexpected death to many others. The faith of a nation gives say to a culture that negates black life. The faith of a father affirms black life in the midst of a culture of death.” (Pg. 137)
She acknowledges, “There is an inherent absurdity to black faith. It speaks of freedom in the midst of bondage. It speaks of life in the midst of death. This, however, is what makes black faith indispensable in the midst of a stand-your-ground culture war. For while black faith cannot change the world, black faithful can… [Trayvon’s mother and father] have brought attention to a stand-your-ground culture war that threatens the lives of all of our children. This is what it means to have an unshattered faith. It means acting as if you really believe in the God of that faith, that is, a God who intends for black bodies to be free… the freedom of God is made manifest in the tears, the strife, and the fight of the black fathers and mothers whose children are casualties of this unholiest of wars. Yes, perhaps black faith is absurd. Christianity itself is absurd. There s nothing more absurd than a religion that has a cross as its central symbol. But it is because of that cross … that we can be sure stand-your-ground culture will not have the last word over their lives.” (Pg. 170)
In the last chapter, she concludes, “In many respects, we have arrived at this particular stand-your-ground moment because of our nation’s inability to be honest with itself and to face the hard truths of its own story. It is a story about the vicissitudes of America’s narrative of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism and ideology of cherished white property. The nation will certainly continue to be held captive to that narrative until it honestly confronts it and the history it has created. Prophetic black testimony thus calls the nation to a moral memory.” (Pg. 221)
This is a creative and very important perspective on the Trayvon Martin tragedy, and similar tragedies. It will be “must reading” for anyone concerned with the social, moral, and theological issues raised by such events.
Kelly Brown Douglas is Professor of Religion at Goucher College, and is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. She formerly taught theology at Brown University. She is also the author of The Black Christ,Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective,Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant, and What's Faith Got to Do With It?: Black Bodies/Christian Souls.
She wrote in the Prologue of this 2015 book, “Why is it becoming increasingly acceptable to kill unarmed black children… why are they so easily perceived as a threat? How are we to keep our black children safe? As a mother of a black male child, I find these to be urgent questions. The slaying of Trayvon [Martin] struck a nerve deep within me… I knew that I had to seek answers. This book reflects my search for those answers.” (Pg. ix)
She continues in the Introduction, “This book will explore the social-cultural narratives that have given birth to our stand-your-ground culture and the religious canopies that have legitimated it. This stand-your-ground culture has produced and sustained slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, lynching, and other forms of racialized violence against black bodies. This book is an attempt to untangle the web of social, cultural, and theological discourse that contributes to stand-your-ground culture as well as to provide a theological response to the ideological assumptions that undergird this culture.” (Pg. xiii) She adds, “I do not attempt to resolve the many issues of stand-your-ground culture. This book is an invitation to engage in the hard soul searching needed if our country is ever to become a safer place for our black sons and daughters, and if we are to end the stand-your-ground culture war on the Trayvons, Jordans, Renishas, and Jonathans of our world.” (Pg. xv)
In the first chapter, she explains, “The underlying assumption of this book is that the seeds for Stand Your Ground law were planted ell before the founding of America. These seeds produced a myth of racial superiority that both determined America’s founding and defined its identity. This myth then gave way to America’s grand narrative of exceptionalism. This narrative… in turn constructed cherished property and generated a culture to shelter that property, thus ensuring that American remain ‘exceptional.’ I identify this culture as ‘stand-your-ground culture.’ This culture is itself generative. It has spawned various social-cultural devices---legal and extralegal, theoretical and ideological, political and theological—to preserve America’s primordial exceptional identity.” (Pg. 4)
She argues, “It is with the construction of whiteness as cherished property that a stand-your-ground culture is finally born. From the Anglo-Saxon myth of America’s exceptionalism to whiteness as cherished property comes a stand-your-ground culture… [which] is nothing other than the enactment of whiteness as cherished property. It is the culture the protects… white supremacy. Stand-your-ground culture spawns its own means, legal and extralegal, to ensure that nothing nonwhite intrudes on white space… [It] protects the rights that come with cherished white property. With this understanding, we can now answer the following question: ‘Could Trayvon have stood his ground on that sidewalk?’” (Pg. 44)
She observes, “Today, the Manifest Destiny stand-your-ground culture is fueled by the presence of a black man living in the White House. There is no greater challenge to America’s grand narrative of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism than a black president. This represent a complete encroachment upon the space reserved for cherished white property… the Stand Your Ground laws, in conjunction with the Conceal and Carry gun laws, have made legal a murderous act that was extralegal, that is, lynching. Our black children are falling victims to the twenty-first century version of stand-your-ground culture lynching. It is in this context that we must determine if going home was a viable option for Trayvon.” (Pg. 130-131)
She says, “The stand-your-ground culture is a story of two faiths. There is the faith of a father whose son was not the ‘collateral damage’ of the war but actually the target. There is also the faith of a nation whose very identity created the war that targeted Trayvon… The faith of a father points to an exodus God who is with a people through a wilderness journey to forge a new life. The faith of a nation signals an exodus God who is with a people through a wilderness journey to bring unexpected death to many others. The faith of a nation gives say to a culture that negates black life. The faith of a father affirms black life in the midst of a culture of death.” (Pg. 137)
She acknowledges, “There is an inherent absurdity to black faith. It speaks of freedom in the midst of bondage. It speaks of life in the midst of death. This, however, is what makes black faith indispensable in the midst of a stand-your-ground culture war. For while black faith cannot change the world, black faithful can… [Trayvon’s mother and father] have brought attention to a stand-your-ground culture war that threatens the lives of all of our children. This is what it means to have an unshattered faith. It means acting as if you really believe in the God of that faith, that is, a God who intends for black bodies to be free… the freedom of God is made manifest in the tears, the strife, and the fight of the black fathers and mothers whose children are casualties of this unholiest of wars. Yes, perhaps black faith is absurd. Christianity itself is absurd. There s nothing more absurd than a religion that has a cross as its central symbol. But it is because of that cross … that we can be sure stand-your-ground culture will not have the last word over their lives.” (Pg. 170)
In the last chapter, she concludes, “In many respects, we have arrived at this particular stand-your-ground moment because of our nation’s inability to be honest with itself and to face the hard truths of its own story. It is a story about the vicissitudes of America’s narrative of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism and ideology of cherished white property. The nation will certainly continue to be held captive to that narrative until it honestly confronts it and the history it has created. Prophetic black testimony thus calls the nation to a moral memory.” (Pg. 221)
This is a creative and very important perspective on the Trayvon Martin tragedy, and similar tragedies. It will be “must reading” for anyone concerned with the social, moral, and theological issues raised by such events.
August 9, 2021
It's hard to rate a book that I read for a course, but I'll attempt a brief review. As many of you no doubt know, Kelly Brown Douglas is now the Dean of EDS at Union, and has written extensively on the intersectionality of being Black, female, and Christian. This book was written as a response from frequent questions by her students (Not at EDS; I believe she was teaching at Gaucher at the time of writing this book) about how she could be both a Black Woman and a Christian. Make no mistake, this is an academic book, and the writing reflects that. However, Dean Douglas makes her case persuasively, and I learned a lot about the history of the Black church; the effect of platonism on mainstream Christianity, and womanist theology. While I do not recommend this book to the casual reader, I do highly recommend it to anyone seriously interested in probing the depths of Christianity in both predominantly Black and predominantly White churches in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
November 4, 2022
Douglas follows a clear trail through history, making a distinction between "Christianity" as a tool of power and Christianity the movement for liberation. As a black AND queer person, I also get asked how I can be a Christian. The answer lies in understanding which Christianity one means.
January 14, 2013
Essential reading for understanding the theological psyche of African Americans.
August 6, 2016
One of the more challenging, provocative, and honest theological works and human stories you can read. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews