Abstract
In the United States, the subject of long-standing racial disparities between blacks and whites has received much attention from scholars in various disciplines. However, there has been much less attention paid to how these racial disparities shape religious beliefs and how religious beliefs shape understandings of racial disparities. In Blacks and Whites in Christian America, sociologists Jason Shelton and Michael Emerson examine the intersection of race and religion among black and white Protestants. Relying on findings from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, the 2006 General Social Survey, 14 in-depth interviews with high-ranking clergy, and focus groups with 30 Christians from the three largest African American Protestant denominations, Shelton and Emerson argue that racial group membership has a profound influence on how black and white Protestants think about and practice Christianity.
While black and white Protestants are nearly identical in their belief of core Christian tenets (i.e., belief in God, Jesus Christ, Heaven and Hell), Shelton and Emerson argue that is where the similarity ends. According to Shelton and Emerson, the explanation for these differences lies in the thesis of their study, the “five building blocks of black Protestant faith.” These building blocks are: experiential, survival, mystery, miraculous, and justice. The five building blocks of black Protestant faith provide support for C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya's black sacred cosmos thesis which argues that black Protestants have developed a racially specific approach to Christianity that can be found in most black churches regardless of denomination. According to Shelton and Emerson, black Protestant faith is more experiential than academic, meaning they are more concerned with action than strict doctrine. The authors argue that this is a result of the legacy of slavery and segregation where the words and deeds of white Protestants often did not match, as well as the structural barriers black Protestants faced when they tried to achieve an academic understanding of Christianity. Black Protestants tend to pray, attend religious services, and interpret scriptures literally more frequently than white Protestants because their faith has helped them survive both past and present racial oppression. Compared to white Protestants, black Protestants are more open to astrology, non-Christian religions, and beliefs in reincarnation. This is in line with the black sacred cosmos theory, which suggests that the black Protestant religious tradition is a result of the fusion between the folklore and culture of the African Diaspora as well as centuries of racial oppression. Finally, black Protestant faith is committed to social justice and black Protestants are more likely than white Protestants to attribute contemporary racial inequality to structural rather than individualistic causes and support policies designed to reduce inequality.
Shelton and Emerson end their book with an analysis of the future of the Christian beloved community and the problem of racial inequality. The authors are very clear that an individualistic and cultural basis for improving race relations is insufficient without structural interventions. Yet, as Shelton and Emerson point out, research on racial attitudes suggest that blacks’ and whites’ beliefs about the causes of racial inequality are becoming more similar as blacks are increasingly relying on individual-level explanations for racial inequality.
Blacks and Whites in Christian America is an excellent contribution to the study of race and religion. Shelton and Emerson's study makes two very important contributions. First, they are able to provide both quantitative and qualitative support to the black sacred cosmos thesis. For scholars of black religious studies, having data that support this previously untested theory is an invaluable contribution of Shelton and Emerson's study. Second, Shelton and Emerson are able to move beyond the limits of a strict cultural explanation for differences between black and white Protestants to a deeper understanding of how structural determinants, such as racism, are equally important influences on how black and white Protestants approach their faith. The primary limitation of this study is that it is a comparative analysis that only includes qualitative data from blacks. As explained in the book, this omission is not intentional on the part of the authors but is due to many white Protestants being averse to participating in a study about race and Christianity. While it would have certainly enriched this study to have the perspective of both black and white Protestants, the inability to recruit white Protestants is itself a significant aspect of this study.
Shelton and Emerson have written an accessible and informative book that is suitable for multiple audiences, including undergraduate and graduate students, scholars of religion or race, and church leaders and attendees. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in theology, religious studies, or race relations.