The Ground Has Shifted The Future of the Black Church in Post-Racial America [Hardcover]

Honorable Mention, Theology and Religious Studies PROSE Award

A powerful insight into the historical and cultural roles of the black church

If we are in a post-racial era, then what is the future of the Black Church? If the US will at some time in the future be free from discrimination and prejudices that are based on race how will that affect the churchs very identity?

InThe Ground Has Shifted, Walter Earl Fluker passionately and thoroughly discusses the historical and current role of the black church and argues that the older race-based language and metaphors of religious discourse have outlived their utility. He offers instead a larger, global vision for the black church that focuses on young black men and other disenfranchised groups who have been left behind in a world of globalized capital.

Lyrically written with an emphasis on the dynamic and fluid movement of life itself, Fluker argues that the church must find new ways to use race as an emancipatory instrument if it is to remain central in black life, and he points the way for a new generation of church leaders, scholars and activists to reclaim the black churchs historical identity and to turn to the task of infusing character, civility, and a sense of community among its congregants.

Walter Fluker is the towering theorist of the Black Church and the unapologetic lover of the black prophetic tradition. This powerful and timely book is sophisticated, subtle, and rich. And it soars with a deep, long memory alive in the present a present that reeks of a 'cultural asylum' that he notes the Black Lives Movement is shattering! Flukers judicious use of personal reflection provides an exciting affirmation that our black lives and our black churches really do matter as important standpoints for engaging spirituality, renewing the national imaginary, and enhancing the human condition. An important and perceptive contribution to the literature on religion and race. lSU