Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html\",\"name\":\"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field","description":"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field","og_description":"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html","name":"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-07T14:51:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Christopher Bonner asked an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":502,"date":"2014-08-07T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html"},"modified":"2014-08-07T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T14:51:00","slug":"between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/between-faith-and-history-thinking-about-african-american-religious-history-as-an-interdisciplinary-field.html","title":{"rendered":"Between Faith and History: Thinking About African American Religious History as an Interdisciplinary Field"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Christopher Bonner asked<\/a> an excellent question in his recent post, \u201cWhat can we truly know about men and women who were self-consciously making history?\u201d Certainly, scholars do argue that past people of color did self-consciously make history. However, this is not an obvious conclusion as demonstrated by debates concerning the consequences of Christian conversion for Africans and their descendents throughout the Black Diaspora. Recent work from an array of excellent scholars in a variety of academic disciplines presents different approaches and answers to Bonner\u2019s question. Yet, much of this work, whether it emphasizes philosophical inquiry, historical narrative, anthropological description, or theological critique, suggests that writing the history of Afro-American religion and theology requires continued and new exchange between historians, theologians, and religious studies scholars [1]. I\u2019ve encountered a problem while teaching African American religion that also arises within scholarship and that highlights the need for continued interdisciplinary work.<\/span><\/p>\n

The difficulty arises from teaching African American religion and theology as a professional historian in the interdisciplinary curriculum of religious studies. I want my students to develop an historical empathy. A colleague of mine calls this a critical empathy for the motivations and insights of historical people. By providing students with rich contextual descriptions of the past, I hope that they might begin to step beyond their personal experiences to occupy previous perspectives that might seem unthinkable within contemporary worldviews. I also teach students to historicize religious and intellectual concepts like faith.<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"