| The End of Days: African American Religion and Politics in the Age of Emancipation Contributor(s): Harper, Matthew (Author) |
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ISBN: 1469629364 ISBN-13: 9781469629360 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $33.20 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 2016 * Not available - Not in print at this time * |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Christianity - History - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) |
| Dewey: 277.508 |
| LCCN: 2015049992 |
| Physical Information: 0.76" H x 6.18" W x 9.69" (1.04 lbs) 224 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: For 4 million slaves, emancipation was a liberation and resurrection story of biblical proportion, both the clearest example of God's intervention in human history and a sign of the end of days. In this book, Matthew Harper demonstrates how black southerners' theology, in particular their understanding of the end times, influenced nearly every major economic and political decision they made in the aftermath of emancipation. From considering what demands to make in early Reconstruction to deciding whether or not to migrate west, African American Protestants consistently inserted themselves into biblical narratives as a way of seeing the importance of their own struggle in God's greater plan for humanity. Phrases like jubilee, Zion, valley of dry bones, and the New Jerusalem in black-authored political documents invoked different stories from the Bible to argue for different political strategies. This study offers new ways of understanding the intersections between black political and religious thought of this era. Until now, scholarship on black religion has not highlighted how pervasive or contested these beliefs were. This narrative, however, tracks how these ideas governed particular political moments as African Americans sought to define and defend their freedom in the forty years following emancipation. |
Contributor Bio(s): Harper, Matthew: - Matthew Harper is assistant professor of history and Africana studies at Mercer University. |