Ain’t Gonna Lay My ‘ligion Down: African American Religion in the South

Illumines a unique fusion of African and Western European religious traditions

Ain’t Gonna Lay My ‘Ligion Down reveals the ways that African Americans have put flesh on their Christian beliefs, adapting the faith of their European American masters and creating distinctive forms of religious expression. Contributors to the volume examine specific examples of African American religious practice and church leadership to show the remarkable degree to which newly imported slaves preserved their African spiritual heritage while simultaneously meshing it with Western symbols and theological claims.

The first essay in the volume explains the historical implications and continuing significance of two distinctive, often misunderstood components of African American folk religion: the pray’s house spirit and the distinctive conversion ritual known as seekin’ the Lord. Other essays consider the morality of African American folktales, specifically the Brer Rabbit tales; the symbolic and literary connections between African traditional religions and the religious experiences of African American women as found in the motherwit tradition; and the central place rhythm holds in African American life as a thread of continuity connecting life in Africa with life in the diaspora. Two final essays explore African American folk religion by examining the contributions of prominent nineteenth- and twentieth-century church leaders.