Augsburg Fortress African American Theology Collection (6 vols.)

This deeply moving appeal for more faithful preaching in America could not be more timely. Kenyatta Gilbert demonstrates why he is one of the brightest and most creative homiletical minds of his generation.

—DeForest Blake "Buster" Soaries, senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Lincoln, Somerset, NJ

Here is both a remarkably broad historical view of the development of black preaching in North America and an incisive diagnosis of the challenges that preachers within and beyond the African American church must meet today. Reaching into the crucible of African American history and the preaching it evoked, Gilbert crafts a ‘trivocal’ approach to preaching that incorporates three distinctive accents of the black pulpit: the prophetic, sagely, and priestly voices. One can hardly imagine a better introduction to the deep wisdom to be discovered, or rediscovered, in African American preaching traditions.

—Sally A. Brown, Elizabeth M. Engle Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, Princeton Theological Seminary

Finally something really fresh on African American preaching! Especially relevant for today is Gilbert’s discussion on the seven personals of African American preachers. This will definitely be one of the preaching books discussed by homileticians in 2011 and beyond.

—Martha Simmons, creator, The African American Lectionary

Kenyatta Gilbert has given us an analytical and critical tool for preaching in the twenty–first century. This book is excellent for classroom, private study, and continuing education. We are in Gilbert’s debt for this brilliant teaching instrument for clergy and laity. He will help a new generation to gain and retain a profound appreciation for the creative powers and prophetic drumbeat of the African American pulpit.

—Otis Moss Jr., emeritus pastor, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Cleveland, OH

Kenyatta Gilbert has made an invaluable contribution to homiletic scholarship and literature. Rich in tradition and wisdom, The Promise and the Journey of African American Preaching captures the genius of the African American pulpit. This work will be read widely and with great appreciation for years to come.

—Richard Lischer, James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of Preaching, Duke Divinity School

Kenyatta Gilbert’s book, The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching, has afforded us a scholarly and wholesome look over the ways in which our forbears have come on the journey of faith and hope. It is valuable for use by clergy and laity. He bids us to lift every voice and proclaim with wisdom, prophetic confrontation, and priestly listening, his ‘trivocal’ method of preaching, a way in which it can resound in the pulpit, the parish, and the podium.

—Evans E. Crawford Jr., emeritus professor of social ethics and preaching, Howard University School of Divinity

In The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching, Kenyatta Gilbert offers a scholarly, personal, thought–provoking, and practical guide to the best practices in black preaching. The working preacher will find this model both a challenge and resource for promoting balance between the prophet, priest, and sage.

—Leslie D. Callahan, senior pastor, Saint Paul Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA

This book immerses readers in a sophisticated, multi–voiced soundtrack. Kenyatta Gilbert persuasively calls for ministers to preach in three voices—prophet, priest, and sage. He also amplifies keynotes from other disciplines such as practical theology, cultural studies, and pedagogy. As the Bible says, ‘Faith comes by hearing.’ After hearing this book, your faith in preaching will be renewed.

—Brad R. Braxton, distinguished visiting scholar, McCormick Theological Seminary

In Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made, Diana Hayes combines personal reflection and commitment with theological analysis to enrich our grasp of womanism, to deepen our understanding of black Catholic experience, to widen our horizons and hearts for a more inclusive ecclesial life.

—M. Shawn Copeland, associate professor, Boston College

In this second edition of James Evans’ seminal work, the theology of the black church emerges as a unique, relevant, and dialogical response to the realities of this present age. The addition of new essays focused on the influence of womanist thought, the evangelical movement, and prophetic black church leadership will inspire another generation of believers in the academy and in the pews.

—Barbara Holmes, professor of ethics and African American studies, Memphis Theological Seminary

The importance of a classic, like James Evans’ We Have Been Believers, is not that it is timeless but that it continues to speak to the present and to make contributions to it. In the midst of widespread theological accommodation to the powers that be, Evans blazes alternative trails that are still worth following not only in the black churches but in all churches, inviting us to take our own struggles for liberation and the divine as seriously as the African-American communities that have gone before us.

—Joerg Rieger, Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

In this work, James Evans works out a critical and engaged systematic theology in the context of African American religious, cultural, historical, and social experience. This work stands as a vital and provocative gift to the whole of Christian theological reflection.

—M. Shawn Copeland, associate professor, Boston College