Watch This The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism [Paperback]

Through their constant television broadcasts, mass video distributions, and printed publications, African American religious broadcasters have a seemingly ubiquitous presence in popular culture. They are on par with popular entertainers and athletes in the African American community as cultural icons even as they are criticized by others for taking advantage of the devout in order to subsidize their lavish lifestyles.
For these reasons questions abound. Do televangelists proclaim the message of the gospel or a message of greed? Do they represent the authentic voice of the black church or the Christian Right in blackface? Does the phenomenon reflect orthodox Christianity or ethnocentric Americaninity wrapped in religious language?
Watch This! seeks to move beyond such polarizing debates by critically delving into the dominant messages and aesthetic styles of African American televangelists and evaluating their ethical implications.

This book is the best work we have on the complex dynamics of the Black megachurch phenomenon. Walton is a brilliant cultural critic and courageous prophetic voice! In this groundbreaking work, J. L. Walton moves us beyond the naive belief that televangelism is a territory dominated solely by the white religious right and introduces us to the intricate world of black televangelism... Walton challenges us to examine the relationship between the success of black televangelistic ministries and the failure of more traditional ecclesiastical and political movements to address the needs of those rendered socially invisible in our society. This book is highly recommended for any student of American and/or African-American religious history and religious studies. [Walton] points to the contrast between the individualized nature of problem-solving in contemporary televangelism and the social justice history of the African American religious tradition. Televangelism, by its very nature, works against the type of corporate religil3æ