Black sermonic tradition

The Black sermonic tradition, or Black preaching tradition, is an approach to sermon (or homily) construction and delivery practiced primarily among African Americans in the Black Church.

Aspects

Scholars and practitioners have recognized three primary elements of this tradition.

  1. Authenticity: the preacher is free to be their authentic Black self without having to code switch.
  2. Rhetorical embellishments: jarring hyperbole, matching body language, and musicality in vocalisations.
  3. Social impact and historical significance: there are often mentions of challenges imposed by dominant social structures throughout history.

Whooping

Raboteau describes a common style of Black preaching called "whooping", which first developed in the early 19th century, and became common throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries:

The preacher begins calmly, speaking in conversational, if oratorical and occasionally grandiloquent, prose; he then gradually begins to speak more rapidly, excitedly, and to chant his words and time to a regular beat; finally, he reaches an emotional peak in which the chanted speech becomes tonal and merges with the singing, clapping, and shouting of the congregation.[1]

This aspect of Black preaching often utilizes what is called "preaching chords", bombastic interpolations played on an organ and juxtaposed with the preacher's emphatic lines.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Albert Raboteau, A Fire in the Bones, Reflections on African-American Religious History (1995), pp. 143–44

Further reading

  • Hubbard, Don (1996). The Sermon and the African American Literary Imagination, University of Missouri Press, ISBN 0-8262-1087-2
  • LaRue, Cleophus J. (1999). The Heart Of Black Preaching, John Knox Press, ISBN 0-664-25847-6
  • Lyndrey A. Niles, "Rhetorical Characteristics of Traditional Black Preaching", Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, Sep., 1984, pp. 41–52.
  • Mitchell, Henry H. (1990). Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art, Abingdon Press, ISBN 0-687-03614-3
  • Mitchell, Henry H. (2004). Black Church Beginnings: The Long-Hidden Realities of the First Years, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub., ISBN 0-8028-2785-3
  • Moyd, Olin P. (1995). The Sacred Art: Preaching & Theology in the African American Tradition, Judson Press, ISBN 0-8170-1220-6
  • Walter Pitts, "West African Poetics in the Black Preaching Style", American Speech, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Summer, 1989), pp. 137–149.
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