Esotericism in African American Religious Experience

Stephen C. Finley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the African and African American Studies Program at Louisiana State University. An Executive Committee member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, he is completing his book, In and Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam. Margarita Simon Guillory is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Rochester. Her research interests include American Spiritualism, identity construction in African American religion, and social scientific approaches to religion. In addition to contributing essays to several edited volumes, she has published articles in Culture and Religion and Pastoral Psychology. Hugh R. Page Jr. is Associate Professor of Theology and Africana Studies as well as Vice President, Associate Provost, and Dean of the First Year of Studies at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN). He is general editor of The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora (Fortress, 2009) and author of Israel's Poetry of Resistance: Africana Perspectives on Early Hebrew Verse (Fortress, 2013).Contributor include: Julius H. Bailey, Justine M. Bakker, Yvonne Chireau, Mary Ann Clark, Paul Easterling, Mambo Vye Zo Komande LaMenfo, Lana Finley, Biko Mandela Gray The Reverend Dr. Barbara A. Holmes, Joyce Marie Jackson, Alisha Lola Jones, Jeffrey J. Kripal, Darnise C. Martin, Aundrea L. Matthews, Elizabeth Perez, Chad Pevateaux, Anthony B. Pinn, Marques Redd, Stephen Wehmeyer, Jon Woodson.

"Overall, the book is well worth the read. For one, its transdisciplinary nature makes it appealing to scholars in the fields of visual and performing arts, history, anthropology, religious studies, African American studies, and business. Moreover, while it does not quite succeed in decentering Christianity, it certainly shows the importance of esoteric traditions alongside and within the religion. Perhaps most importantly, it refuses to reduce the African American experience to a simple narrative of the struggle for political equality. On the contrary, it enriches the realm of scholarly interpretation by persuasively arguing that secrets can drive culture and religion just as well as politics."Jeffrey E. Anderson, University of Louisiana Monroe, Nova Religio, Vol. 20, No. 4

• CONTENTSForewordJeffrey J. KripalPrefaceIntroduction: Africana Esoteric Studies: Mapping a New EndeavorStephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr.Part I: (Pre-) 19th Century1Esoteric Writing of Vodou: Grimoires, Sigils, and the Houngan’s NotebookYvonne Chireau and Bon Mambo Vye Zo Kommande2Paschal Beverly Randolph in the African American CommunityLana Finley3The Self Divine: Know Ye Not that Ye are Gods?Darnise C. MartinPart II: Early to Mid 20th Century4Working Roots and Conjuring Traditions: Relocating ‘Cults and Sects’ in African American Religious HistoryElizabeth Perez 5Spiritual is Universal: Development of Black Spiritualist ChurchesMary Ann Clark6The Harlem Renaissance as Esotericism: Black Oragean ModernismJon Woodson7Mathematical Theology: Numerology in the Religious Thought of Tynnetta Muhammad and Louis FarrakhanStephen C. Finley8On the Knowledge of Self and Others: Secrecy, Concealment, and Revelation in Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (1934-1975)Justine Bakker9Post-Imperial Appropriation of Text, Tradition, and Ritual in the Writings of Henri GamacheHugh R. Page, Jr.10Mystery Matters: Embodiment and African American MysticsChad Pevateaux11Show and Prove: Five Percenters and the Study of African American EsotericismBiko Mandela Gray12The “Nu” Nation: An Analysis of Malachi Z. York’s NuwaubiansPaul Easterling13Sacred Not Secret: Esoteric Knowledge in the United Nuwanbian Nation of MoorsJulius BaileyPart III: Late 20th Century to Present-day14Astro-Black MythologyMarques Redd15Conjurational Contraptions: Techno-hermeneutics, Mechanical Wizardry, and the Material Culture of African American Folk MagicStephen Wehmeyer16Portraying Portraits: The Intersectionality of Self, Art, and the Lacanian Gaze in the Nahziryah Monastic CommunityMargarita Simon Guillory and Aundrea Matthews17Those Mysteries, Our Mysteries: Ishmael Reed and the Construction of a Black Esoteric TraditionMarques Redd18Rocking’ for a Risen Savior: Bakongo and Christian Iconicity in the Louisiana Easter Rock RitualJoyce Marie Jackson19Pole Dancing for Jesus: Negotiating Movement and Gender in Men’s Musical PraiseAlisha Lola Jones20Wonder Working Power: Reclaiming Mystical and Cosmological Approaches to Africana Spiritual PracticesBarbara A. HolmesConclusion: The Continuing Quest to Map Secrecy, Concealment, and Revelatory Experiences in Africana Esoteric Discourse: “There Is a Mystery…”Stephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr.AfterwordAnthony B. PinnBibliography