by Roderick MacIveryUnknown to many worshippers the black church is among our most authentic contact with the gods of our ancestors. The manifestations are present for any interested observer to behold. For we are not speaking here merely on the basis of opinion or hearsay, but on concrete demonstrations. The fact that worshippers have not made the connection between these manifestations and our ancestors is the result of ancestral discontinuity, caused more by the unavailability of proper information regarding Africa than anything else.
The church has contributed to this ignorance by obfuscating the discussion of the African past Indeed, the collective religious experience in the black church harks back to the time when our ancestors called the Loas and Orishas with the polymetric beats of the drums. Thus, it should be clear that it is not the church nor its symbols which give power and spirit; it is the spirit of our ancestors found even in the blues and jazz night clubs of our communities. We are a people in tune with our God-force whether in a night club or a church The feeling is the same; it comes from the same place, it is not merely a church phenomenon and we must cease giving that credit only to the church The spirit exists whether we experience entertainment or a sermon.
Nevertheless the music and dance of the church may be the essence of our Africanity. What I mean by this is that the panorama of Africa is not merely unfolded but expanded and amplified in the religious drama. More than this, the church services become a collective outpouring of the soul with some people getting more possessed than others but no only really escaping the influence of possession even if it is no more than the slight tapping of the foot Syncopated pianos and organs and hand-clapping often drive the faithful into ecstasy.
The rhythms run to be free, individuals shout and moan, the preacher directs this "mass madness," which is really not madness, by the call and response, and suddenly the whole congregation is praising the Lord This is truly an African expression, imitated by white evangelicals who first saw African slaves "getting religion" What the Africans were getting, however, was the same ecstatic combinations produced by the polymeters of African music. In the place of drums the African-American substituted hand-clapping, foot-stomping, head-shaking, body-moving rhythm-all in an attempt to drive the self into further possession, by the Lord. While this does not occur in all black churches, it is the general experience of those traditional black churches which have emerged out of the roots of our past. Here the believer who has attends all of the church meetings and listens to all of the preaching and music, land is never possessed is considered abnormal, strange, unusual. For to be captured by the dynamism of the religious experience is to compliment the orchestration of that experience which is one's own work in concert with fellow believers.
Because the black Christian church, in varying degrees, knows this rhythmic catharsis, it is uniquely capable of transmitting knowledge of the past. In fact the church is the most logical institution for the beginning work of instructing the masses concerning African customs, habits, and styles. The various secret societies, or societies of secrets, of Africa mirror the intense emotional quality of the church and because of this fact alone become paradigms for Afrocentric discussion. Quite early in our American sojourn we adapted the internal strivings of our souls, the religious needs and desires, to the western religious experience making a combination with African essence and Christian form. In the centuries since our forefathers and foremothers effected this change we have forgotten why it was done. Nevertheless, most of us still retain the urge to shout whether we are Baptist or not.
Almost naturally, therefore, the church has a split personality, it suffers from Du Bois' dilemma. Its problems are more serious than the "double consciousness" of a single individual (while that is not to be minimized either) because the church is our most pervasive institution. As goes the church so go the church members. The church's peculiar problem appears to be the inability to make up its mind on significant political and social questions. And often when its mind is made up rather than act as a change agent it defends the status quo. Hence, as I stated earlier, the black church has been both a catalyst and a dissuader on questions of social and political justice. This is unfortunate in light of the two points already made regarding the church's numerical and historical value. The observations made by Kenneth Clark in Dark Ghetto effectively demonstrate the inability of the church to move on social and political matters. The tension between the conservative minded fmancial supporters and the demands of the social situation frequently put a slipknot around the church's possible idealism. While there is a growing dissatisfaction with the church's commitment to the social, political, and economic plight of its membership, it nevertheless retains the potential for active regeneration.
How do we begin to revamp the church? In other words, how can the church make its best contribution to the rise of the spirits? It is necessary to understand that the church is only secondarily a theological institution, it is primarily a social institution concerned more with fellowship than with dogma. This situation is especially conducive to the role it must play in Afrocentricity. And this fact is confirmed by the church's predominance on the social pages of the various newspapers. So long as this condition holds, and it is certainly not to change in this generation, the resurrection of the church is certain to occur.
What is coming is a cadre of ministers who will drive the church toward revolutionary social and political consciousness. There will be many controversies over strategies as well as objectives, but in the end the innovations of this cadre of ministers will have permanently altered the structure of the black church They will see themselves in the fighting images of Nat Turner, Henry McNeal Turner, Adam Clayton Powell and Martin Luther King, Jr. Such a cadre is presently preparing itself in the logics and methods of Afrocentricity. What is different about these young ministers is that they recognize the tremendous social and political power within the black church and they intend to wield that power. Those ministers who formulate clear political and social philosophies based on the African center will completely alter the church's emphasis. A powerful ministerial turnover will effectively entrench the revolutionary cadre of ministers.
Once this occurs, the value of the church to our general revival will become even clearer. The aware ministers represent only the first change awaiting the church. Along with the administrative changes will come new theological directions to support the redirected objectives of the church. Black people have always had some consciousness of God even though this God consciousness was more characterized by social relationships than anything else. Earlier black preachers were usually unconcerned with immanence, hermaneutical analysis, kerygma and dogmatics. While the new direction will not mean a concentration on theological dogma, it will mean a reinterpretation of traditional theology.
This is why James Cone's liberation theology is prophetic and reflects the application of the black mind to traditional precepts. Cone's interpretations stem from the AfricanAmerican experience. The work of Albert Cleage is the most obvious example of true transformation of the church. The shrines of the Black Madonna in Detroit, Houston, and Atlanta are on the way to becoming centers of education. Cleage has captured the essence of what a church ought to be in the African-American community. And while the shrines are further along than any other institutions they still are not yet fully Afrocentric. You, liberated and seeking community, can assist the shrines in their total commitment. Many black ministers are responding to this transformation toward a theology with revolutionary meaning.
End of Part II