Synopses & Reviews
Enter most African American congregations and you are likely to see the century-old pattern of a predominantly female audience led by a male pastor. How do we explain the dedication of African American women to the church, particularly when the church's regard for women has been questioned?
Following in the footsteps of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's pathbreaking work, Righteous Discontent, Daphne Wiggins takes a contemporary look at the religiosity of black women. Her ethnographic work explores what is behind black women's intense loyalty to the church, bringing to the fore the voices of the female membership of black churches as few have done. Wiggins illuminates the spiritual sustenance the church provides black women, uncovers their critical assessment of the church's ministry, and interprets the consequences of their limited collective activism.
Wiggins paints a vivid portrait of what lived religion is like in black women's lives today.
Review
“Wiggins captures voices normally taken for granted: the voices of African American female laity. Based on fieldwork, surveys, and semistructured interviews, the book reveals a complex representation of thirty-eight African American churchwomen from two congregations (one Baptist and one Church of God in Christ.)”
“Daphne Wiggins has made a major contribution to our understanding of the religion, wisdom, and social power of African American women. This book should be required reading for church leaders, seminary professors, and sociologists of American religion who often take Black women's religiosity for granted. Wiggins offers us that rare gift found in the finest ethnographic studies, a vivid sense of the inner world of the people in their own voices. I learned something new on every page. A tour de force of insight and lively writing chock full of practical suggestions for improving church life.”
“Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women's theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew.”
“Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black women’s religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined.”
“This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections.”
Review
"Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women's theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew." - Marcia Y. Riggs, J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, Columbia Theological Seminary
Review
"Daphne Wiggins has made a major contribution to our understanding of the religion, wisdom, and social power of African American women. This book should be required reading for church leaders, seminary professors, and sociologists of American religion who often take Black women's religiosity for granted. Wiggins offers us that rare gift found in the finest ethnographic studies, a vivid sense of the inner world of the people in their own voices. I learned something new on every page. A tour de force of insight and lively writing chock full of practical suggestions for improving church life." - Robert M. Franklin, author of Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis
Review
"Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black women's religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined." - The North Star
Review
"This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections." - Choice
Synopsis
Since its first publication twenty years ago, Eurocentrism has become a classic of radical thought. Written by one of the world's foremost political economists, this original and provocative essay takes on one of the great "ideological deformations" of our time: Eurocentrism. Rejecting the dominant Eurocentric view of world history, which narrowly and incorrectly posits a progression from the Greek and Roman classical world to Christian feudalism and the European capitalist system, Amin presents a sweeping reinterpretation that emphasizes the crucial historical role played by the Arab Islamic world. Throughout the work, Amin addressesa broad set of concerns, ranging from the ideological nature of scholastic metaphysics to the meanings and shortcomingsof contemporary Islamic fundamentalism. This second edition contains a new introduction and concluding chapter, both of which make the author's arguments even more compelling.
About the Author
Samir Amin was born in Egypt in 1931 and received his Ph.D. in economics in Paris in 1957. He is director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal. His numerous works include Eurocentrism: Second Edition, The World We Wish to See, The Liberal Virus, Accumulation on a World Scale, Unequal Development, and Spectres of Capitalism.