Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States Vol. 1
IVP Academic, 2024
By Walter R. Strickland II
WHO: Walter R. Strickland II, assistant professor of systematic and contextual theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
HE SAYS: “The story of African American Christianity is one of a determined people driven by faith to pursue spiritual and social uplift for themselves and others to God’s glory.”
THE BIG IDEA: A theological-intellectual history of African American Christianity.
THE PROGRESSION: Following the introduction, Chapter 2 documents manifestations of the Christian faith in Africa prior to the transatlantic slave trade. Next, Chapter 3 shows how the Christian faith spread among Africans in America.
Chapter 4 explorers how African tool the often-warped faith given to them by their masters and reclaimed it for freedom. Chapter 5 looks at the establishment of Black churches and denominations. Looking at Chapter 6, the author chronicles how the Black church remained central in the lives of the Black community.
Chapter 7 discusses Jim Crow Laws and the Great Migration, while Chapter 8 highlights Black Pentecostalism and Black fundamentalism. In Chapter 9, the author writes on the development of the intellectual foundation of the civil rights movement.
Chapter 10 invites readers to discover more about the formation of the National Negro Evangelical Association. Chapter 11 recounts a distinct shift in the association’s ethos, and Chapter 12 recounts the diasporic nature of Black evangelicals within historically Black denominations.
Chapter 13 accounts for the origins and early stages of Black liberation theology; Chapter 14 discusses the second-generation Black liberationists. The book concludes with a short account of developments in the 21st century, noting they may deserve more attention in the future.
“The tale of Black faith is interwoven into the tapestry of God’s people.”
