Love the verve of your opening comments! Then, the thoughts of Julian Reid resonated deeply. I continue to be amazed that enslaved Africans saw in the teachings of Christianity, though not in the behavior of their white Christian masters, a deep and life-giving truth. They accepted those teachings and developed a faith that was Christian, yet distinct from the White version. I read an article explaining the Pentecostal worship style of many Black churches as having developed from this need to maintain their distinctiveness. The author argued that the similarity between worship styles of African Christians in Africa and Black Christians in America may be explained by the migration of Afro-American Christianity back to Africa. (The author was Lamin Sanneh, a native of Africa, who taught theology at Harvard Divinity School for many years.)
whitney- as always, your words make perfect sense. i received them with gratitude for your integrity and intelligence and a desire to further understand... so i will be checking into the archives and additional resources you cited. thank you kindly for your constant sincerity. -sonja
wait, what, whitney? you’re really not recognizing our native american brothers and sisters? for thousands and thousands and thousands of years….? “Yet, also, I think that blacks are the real soul of this country. They have the deepest, most patient, and most long-suffering informed faith of any cultural group I can think of in this country…”
i believe the dinė people to be the true leaders of turtle island as i've heard them call the land that is north america. i also believe it is they who are going to help us back to revering the spirit of the land - sacred mother earth (i was surprised that native americans also didn’t come up in your recent issue about boomers hoarding land and you realizing that finding/returning to the spirit of america’s grounds as what will in fact save us as a nation….).
so now i have to ask…. how/where *do* you factor in native americans’ existence? personally, i hope deep down we return not only the land to them and their practices but also all their structures and systems that maximize symbiosis in all living things - plants, animals, water, air, soil, people, spirit,,,
Love the verve of your opening comments! Then, the thoughts of Julian Reid resonated deeply. I continue to be amazed that enslaved Africans saw in the teachings of Christianity, though not in the behavior of their white Christian masters, a deep and life-giving truth. They accepted those teachings and developed a faith that was Christian, yet distinct from the White version. I read an article explaining the Pentecostal worship style of many Black churches as having developed from this need to maintain their distinctiveness. The author argued that the similarity between worship styles of African Christians in Africa and Black Christians in America may be explained by the migration of Afro-American Christianity back to Africa. (The author was Lamin Sanneh, a native of Africa, who taught theology at Harvard Divinity School for many years.)
whitney- as always, your words make perfect sense. i received them with gratitude for your integrity and intelligence and a desire to further understand... so i will be checking into the archives and additional resources you cited. thank you kindly for your constant sincerity. -sonja
wait, what, whitney? you’re really not recognizing our native american brothers and sisters? for thousands and thousands and thousands of years….? “Yet, also, I think that blacks are the real soul of this country. They have the deepest, most patient, and most long-suffering informed faith of any cultural group I can think of in this country…”
i believe the dinė people to be the true leaders of turtle island as i've heard them call the land that is north america. i also believe it is they who are going to help us back to revering the spirit of the land - sacred mother earth (i was surprised that native americans also didn’t come up in your recent issue about boomers hoarding land and you realizing that finding/returning to the spirit of america’s grounds as what will in fact save us as a nation….).
so now i have to ask…. how/where *do* you factor in native americans’ existence? personally, i hope deep down we return not only the land to them and their practices but also all their structures and systems that maximize symbiosis in all living things - plants, animals, water, air, soil, people, spirit,,,
thank you for sharing your musings…