Who were Jupiter Hammon, Lemuel Haynes and Daniel Alexander Payne? And what do they have in common with Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Thurman and James Cone? All of these were African American Christian theologians, yet their theologies are, in many ways, worlds apart.In this book, Thabiti Anyabwile offers a challenging and provocative assessment of the history of African American Christian theology, from its earliest beginnings to the present. He argues trenchantly that the modern fruit ofAfrican American theology has fallen far from the tree of its early predecessors. In doing so, Anyabwile closely examines the theological commitments of prominent African American theologians throughout American history. Chapter by chapter, he traceswhat he sees as the theological decline of African American theology from one generation to the next, concluding with an unflinching examination of several contemporary figures. Replete with primary texts and illustrations, this book is a gold minefor any reader interested in the history of African American Christianity. With a foreword by Mark Noll.



Mark A. Noll is emeritus professor of history at Wheaton College and the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of many books, including America's Book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, Clouds of Witnesses: Christian Voices from Africa and Asia, The New Shape of World Christianity, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, and The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.







Thabiti M. Anyabwile is senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. Thabiti has a strong professional and academic background in community psychology, with special interest in the history and development of the African American church.



Foreword by Mark Noll

Acknowledgments

Figures

Introduction



1 "I Once Was Blind but Now I See"

The Doctrine of Revelation in the African American Experience



2 "A Father to the Fatherless"

The African American Doctrine of God



3 "Ain?t I a Man?"

African American Anthropology



4 "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

The Christology of African Americans



5 "What Must I Do to Be Saved?"

African American Soteriology



6 "Gettin? in De Spirit"

Pneumatology in the African American Experience



Afterword

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index