Feeling the Spirit
Faith and Hope in an Evangelical Black Storefront Church
by Frances Kostarelos

Bargain Book at 65% off

Description:

Amidst a game room, transient hotel, car wash, tire repair shop, and unpave parking lot, members of First Corinthians Missionary Baptist Church worship in a rickety structure abanoned during Chicago's race riots of the 1960s. Frances Kostarelos, an anthropologist granted unique access to the life and organization of this congregation, ushers readers into its services, seminars, committee meetings, and prayer meetings and into the homes of the individuals who worship there. Her vivid participant-observer portrait sheds light on a remarkable little understood social formation that shapes the lives of millions of inner-city African Americans -- the evangelical storefront church.

Drawing on years of ethnographic research, Kostarelos illumines the nature, role, and function of religion in this congregation and in the African-American community at large. She analyzes the precepts that unite the church, the life histories of its leading members, and the organizational structure of the ministry. Her study reveals a staggering range of official roles filled by parishioners, enormous blocks of time devoted to church activities, and a set of narratives and practices that effectively challenge degrading stereotypical images of working-class and poor African-Americans.

Kostarelos squarely contradicts social critics who characterize the storefront church as a capitulation to white economic power structures or as an otherworldly escape from the ghetto. Rather, she portrays the institution as the legacy of a 300-year struggle against oppression and as the embodiment of solidarity among working-class and poverty-stricken African-Americans. She argues that its cosmology empowers members to live creative, meaningful lives despite the hardship of their surroundings. Chastising social scientists and journalists for overlooking the value of this institution and for dismissing community-based approaches to inner-city problems, Kostarelos holds up the evangelical storefront church as a viable vehicle for shaping African-American identity and collective action in the face of urban economic decline.

Feeling the Spirit
Faith and Hope in an Evangelical Black Storefront Church
by Frances Kostarelos

ISBN: 9781570030512
ISBN-10: 1570030510
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Publication Date: 1995
Format: Hardcover, 140 pages
Book Type: New Bargain Book
Condition: New, Has remainder mark

Bargain books may be overstocks (remainders) or publisher returns. These books are new, not used, but may have a mark (usually a line or a dot) on the top or bottom edge. Some may also exhibit slight shelf wear.