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Black
Church - Other-world vs. This-world Perspectives
Historical
Perspective
Much
of the commentary regarding black churches and their role
in society falls into two perspectives—an inward view
of society, in which the church rejects contemporary community
issues for more religious experiences, and a "this-world"
perspective that sees the work of the church as being solely
involved in secular and sacred affairs.
The
traditional perspective on black religion and the Black Church
has tended to focus on the inward, "other-world,"
perspective. As Alphonso Pickney points out, most black religions
and black churches have historically chosen to avoid addressing
the problems facing its members and have chosen an "other-world"
view of its role.3 E.U. Essien-Udom writes in his book Black
Nationalism that the Negro Church is particularly culpable
for its general lack of concern for the moral and social problems
of the community. It has been accommodating.4 Choosing to
focus its attention on heaven and the eternal life, Harold
Wingfield writes that the black church was strictly a place
in which to engage in the religious experience; it had very
little to do with confronting problems of society.5 Moreover,
he asserts that such an orientation caused many to conclude
that the black church has an orientation toward black passivity.
For
example, Myrdal contends:
the
Negro church is, on the whole, passive in the field of intercaste
power relations. It generally provides meeting halls and encourages
church members to attend when other organizations want to
influence the Negroes. But viewed as an instrument of collective
action to improve the Negroes’ position in American society,
the church has been relatively inefficient and uninfluental.
In the South it has not taken a lead in attacking the caste
system or even in bringing about minor reforms. . . .6
Frazier
writes of this passive thought on the Black Church:
The
Negro church could enjoy this freedom so long as it offered
no threat to the white man’s dominance . . . . In addition,
the Negroes’ church was not a threat to white domination
and aided the Negro to become accommodated to an inferior
status. The religion of the Negro continued to be other-world
in its outlook, dismissing the privations and suffering and
injustices of this world as temporary and transient.7
Ultimately,
the traditional perspective of the Black Church can be summed
up, according to C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya, as a
"pie-in-the-sky" attitude that neglects political
and social concerns.8
This
perspective of black religion advances that neither the Black
Church nor its pastors were used to keep blacks in subjugation,
but as a means of relief for those affected by slavery. This
perspective is not the dominant scholarship on the subject;
however, Gary Peck argues that religion functioned as a vehicle
of individual expression in order to meet the needs of the
individual.9 Hortense Powdermaker asserts that religion nurtured
feelings of self-worth to blacks, particularly during slavery.
She writes:
[I]n
both its secular and its religious character, [religion] serves
as an antidote, a palliative, an escapeBy helping the Negro
to endure the status quo, this institution has been a conservative
force, tending to relieve and counteract the discontents that
make for rebellion. At the same time, the equally vital function
of maintaining the self-respect of the Negro individual is
by no means a conservative one.10
Thus,
one could say that Marx was partially correct in his obeservation
that religion is the opium of the people, because it also
gave rise to liberational ideas.
Leon
Watts in his article "Caucuses and Caucasians" discusses
how black slave preachers took that which was in the Bible
and taught by slave owners and made it a tool for empowerment.
He argues that though religion did focus slaves on duty and
servitude, it was black preachers, and their interpretation
of the Bible, that ushered in liberation. Many preachers redefined
Scripture in a manner that allowed for identification with
biblical stories. D'Apolitio informs us about such affects,
"cast this way, the Christian the message served as a
bedrock for subtle defiance and even occasional rebelliousness."11
After
viewing the Black Church from both, the "other-world"
and "this-world" perspective, one can conclude,
as many scholars have, that there is no one type of black
church. This might explain the actions of black churches in
history as well as in contemporary society.
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