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Abstract
This chapter reflects on my pedagogical interrogation of classical theories of religious pluralism in light of African American cultural experiences. How does the African American cultural context change the questions posed in theories of religious pluralism? How do people navigate the contemporary manifestations of the diverse religious inputs that make up African American Christianity? What common themes, if any, persist across religious difference because of the historical, cultural and political particularity of African American experiences? I explored these questions while teaching graduate level courses in theological education at Claremont School of Theology. Across two different courses, I focused on lived experience and non-academic religious texts. This involved assigning memoirs and inspirational texts intended for practitioners, arranging site visits and hosting religious leaders as speakers. I sought theoretical propositions across various academic disciplines, and, at times, from mass-market anthologies. I ensured that the course material was relevant for all students. In these courses, students and I learned three things about African American religions relevant for the enterprise of religious pluralism: African American religiosity itself is religiously plural; African American life offers both tools and gifts for living across religious boundaries; and African American religiosity signals the markers of African American culture and politics. Investigating African American religious pluralism also serves to broaden the intellectual enterprise of religious pluralism by reconstructing its primary questions into investigations of how individuals and communities straddle and merge religious differences.
Abstract
This chapter reflects on my pedagogical interrogation of classical theories of religious pluralism in light of African American cultural experiences. How does the African American cultural context change the questions posed in theories of religious pluralism? How do people navigate the contemporary manifestations of the diverse religious inputs that make up African American Christianity? What common themes, if any, persist across religious difference because of the historical, cultural and political particularity of African American experiences? I explored these questions while teaching graduate level courses in theological education at Claremont School of Theology. Across two different courses, I focused on lived experience and non-academic religious texts. This involved assigning memoirs and inspirational texts intended for practitioners, arranging site visits and hosting religious leaders as speakers. I sought theoretical propositions across various academic disciplines, and, at times, from mass-market anthologies. I ensured that the course material was relevant for all students. In these courses, students and I learned three things about African American religions relevant for the enterprise of religious pluralism: African American religiosity itself is religiously plural; African American life offers both tools and gifts for living across religious boundaries; and African American religiosity signals the markers of African American culture and politics. Investigating African American religious pluralism also serves to broaden the intellectual enterprise of religious pluralism by reconstructing its primary questions into investigations of how individuals and communities straddle and merge religious differences.