Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T19:42:29.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bridging Racial Change: Political Orientations in the United States Evangelical Multiracial Church Movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2010

Nancy Wadsworth
Nancy Wadsworth*
Affiliation:
University of Denver
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nancy Wadsworth, Department of Political Science, University of Denver, Sturm Hall 474, 2000 East Asbury, Denver, CO 80208. E-mail: nwadswor@du.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the rise of a multiracial church (MRC) movement in American evangelicalism. Leaders of this movement articulate a “biblical mandate”-based mission for breaking patterns of racial homogeneity in pursuit of more diverse, egalitarian, and vibrant churches. While participants are passionate about what they see as a powerful racial change effort in their religious communities, they express a variety of orientations about the potential political implications of faith-based MRC-building. Drawing from interview-based research inside MRC settings, I find that most participants are nervously interested in applying their framework to political contexts, while a minority articulates a more politicized justice orientation, and others are confused or actively resistant. The movement's political reluctance is instructive of the understudied dynamics between race and religion, especially in theologically conservative churches. In social capital terms, the “bonding” incentives of MRC settings by definition require difficult kinds of “bridging,” or reaching across deep historical and identity-based differences, in order to create trust-based networks where they have not existed. When successful, however, such networks can open new paths to race-related political engagement.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , December 2010 , pp. 439 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ammerman, Nancy Tatom. 1990. Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Alumkal, Antony. Forthcoming. “Racial Justice in the Protestant Mainline; Liberalism and its Limits.” In Faith and Race in American Political Life, eds. Wadsworth, Nancy, and Jacobson, Robin. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virgina.Google Scholar
Becker, Penny Edgell. 1998. “Making Inclusive Communities: Congregations and the ‘Problem’ of Race.” Social Problems 45:451–472.Google Scholar
Boles, John B. 1988. Masters and Slaves in the House of the Lord: Race and Religion in the American South 1740–1870. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Carwardine, Richard. 1993. Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaves, M., Konieczny, M.E., Beyerlien, K., and Barman, E.. 1999. “The National Congregations Study: Background, Methods, and Selected Results.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 38:458–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christerson, B., and Emerson, M.. 2003. The Costs of Diversity in Religious Organizations: An In-Depth Case Study. Sociology of Religion 64:163–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christianity Today. 2000. “A CT Special Section: Divided by Faith?” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/october2/1.34.html (Accessed June 23, 2009).Google Scholar
DeYmaz, Mark. 2007. Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandates, Commitments, and Practices of a Diverse Congregation. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
DeYoung, C.P., Emerson, M.O., Yancey, G., and Kim, K.C.. 2003. United by Faith: Multiracial Congregations as a Response to the Racial Divide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emerson, Michael O., Smith, Christian. 2000. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Emerson, M.O., and Kim, K.C.. 2003. “Multiracial Congregations: An Analysis of Their Development and a Typology.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42:217–227.Google Scholar
Emerson, M.O., and Woo, R.M.. 2006. People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Emerson, Michael O. 2001. “Costs and Benefits of Multiracial Congregations.” In Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity Conference. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois.Google Scholar
Garces-Foley, Kathleen. 2007a. Crossing the Ethnic Divide: The Multiethnic Church on a Mission. Atlanta, GA: American Academy of Religion Publishing.Google Scholar
Garces-Foley, Kathleen. 2007b. “New Opportunities and New Values.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 612:209–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbreath, Edward. 2006. Reconciliation Blues: a Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Green, John C. 2004. “The American Religious Landscape and Politics, 2004.” www.pewforum.org (Accessed June 23, 2009).Google Scholar
Harvey, Paul. 1997. Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865–1925. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Paul. 2005. Freedom's Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, James Davison. 1987. Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Larsen, Larissa, Harlan, Sharon L., Bolin, Bob, Hackett, Edward J., Hope, Diane, Kirby, Andrew, Nelson, Amy, Rex, Tom R., and Wolf, Shaphard. 2004. Bonding and bridging: Understanding the relationship between social capital and civic action. Journal of Planning Education and Research 24:64–77.Google Scholar
Lichterman, Paul, Carter, Prudence, and Lamont, Michele. 2008. Race-Bridging for Christ? Conservative Christians and Black-White Relations in Community Life. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Lincoln, C. Eric. 1999. Race, Religion, and the Continuing American Dilemma. New York, NY: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Loescher, Frank Samuel. 1948. The Protestant Church and the Negro: A Pattern of Segregation. New York, NY: Association Press.Google Scholar
Luker, Ralph. 1991. The Social Gospel in Black and White: American Racial Reform, 1885–1912. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
MacRobert, Ian. 1988. The Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism in the USA. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Manis, Andrew Michael. 1987. Southern Civil Religions in Conflict: Black and White Baptists and Civil Rights, 1947–1957. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Marsden, George M. 1980. Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism, 1870–1925. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marti, Gerardo. 2005. A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1999. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 2000. “Culture and Social Movements.” In Culture and politics: A Reader, eds. Crothers, Lane, and Lockhart, Charles. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Miller, Donald E. 1997. Reinventing American Protestantism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, Douglas J. 1981. For Such a Time as This: The Story of Bishop William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival. Ph.D. Dissertation. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.Google Scholar
Noll, Mark A. 2008. God and Race in American Politics: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortiz, Manuel. 1996. One New People: Models for Developing a Multiethnic Church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon & Shuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2007. “E pluribus unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century.” Scandinavian Political Studies 30:137–174.Google Scholar
Reed, Ralph. 1996. After the Revolution: How the Christian Coalition is Impacting America. Dallas, TX: Word Publications.Google Scholar
Skinner, Tom. 1968 (2005). Black and Free. Longwood, FL: Xulon Press.Google Scholar
Skinner, Tom. 1970a. How Black is the Gospel? Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Skinner, Tom. 1970b. Words of Revolution. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.Google Scholar
Smidt, Corwin, ed. 2003. Religion as Social Capital: Producing the Common Good. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, ChristianEmerson, Michael. 1998. American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Swidler, Ann. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.” American Sociological Review 51:273–286.Google Scholar
Valleskey, D.J. 1991. “The Church Growth Movement: An Evaluation.” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 88:83–123.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, Nancy. 1997. “Reconciliation Politics: Conservative Evangelicals and the New Race Discourse.” Politics and Society 25:341–376.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, Nancy. 2008. “Reconciling Fractures: The Intersection of Race and Religion in U.S. Political Development.” In Race in American Political Development, eds. Novkov, Julie, Lowndes, Joseph, and Warren, Dorian. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, Nancy. 2010. “Religious Race Bridging: Racial Change among Conservative Evangelicals.” In Religion and Race in American Political Life, eds. Robin, Jacobson, and Wadsworth, Nancy. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Wallis, Jim. 1983. Revive us again: A Sojourner's Journey. Nashville, TN, Abington Press.Google Scholar
Warren, Mark A. 2003. “Faith and Leadership in the Inner City: How Social Capital Contributes to Democratic Renewal.” In Religion as Social Capital: Producing the Common Good. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Catherine. 2008. The Politics of Latino Faith: Religion, Identity, and Urban Community. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Yancey, George A. 2003. One Body, One Spirit: Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar