The Making of a Black Liturgy: Pentecostal Worship and Spirituality from African Slave Narratives to American Cityscapes

Abstract

Despite persistent claims that Pentecostalism is characterized by a Black, oral liturgy, little research has been done on its origin, character, or development. This article suggests that a Black liturgy is an adequate description for the contributions of Pentecostal communities to a uniquely American liturgy, one that is characterized both by its sensitivities to existing liturgical traditions and rejection of established ritual structures, as well as by its exposure to certain key events that have shaped the religious history of modern America. The argument expands on the hypothesis that from the plantation prayer grounds of African slaves and the camp meetings of the American South, an African American spirituality was carried to the urban centers of the American heartland. In this new location it was shaped by the social, cultural, and religious conditions of the new environment and emerged as a new liturgical form labeled "Pentecostal," which in its sensitivities was uniquely American. The critical impact of a Black liturgy in and beyond this American context, therefore, has to be reevaluated.