CHRISTOPHER Z. HOBSON is Professor of English at SUNY Old Westbury and author of The Mount of Vision: African American Prophetic Tradition, 1800–1950; Blake and Homosexuality; and other works on African American literature and culture, William Blake, and political theory.

“This book demonstrates that James Baldwin’s cutting social criticism can be found just as much in his novels as in his essays. Hobson brings a subtle understanding of prophecy to this task, displaying how Baldwin mobilized his powerful religious imagination in the service of social justice. James Baldwin and the Heavenly City: Prophecy, Apocalypse, and Doubt is a highly valuable addition to the growing scholarship on one of the greatest sages of the twentieth century.”—VINCENT LLOYD, Associate Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University

• Contents Preface Abbreviations of Titles of James Baldwin's Works Introduction: Baldwin, the Bible, and the Heavenly City Chapter 1. Prophetic Commissioning Chapter 2. Prophetic Art Chapter 3. The Apocalyptic Body Chapter 4. The Apocalyptic City Chapter 5. Prophecy and Doubt Conclusion. Baldwin's Prophetic Art Today Notes Works Cited Index