Fire in My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African American Gospel / Edition 1

by Glenn Hinson

Overview

Glenn Hinson focuses on a single gospel program and offers a major contribution to our understanding not just of gospel but of the nature of religious experience.

A key feature of African American performance is the layering of performative voices and the constant shifting of performative focus. To capture this layering, Hinson demonstrates how all the parts of the gospel program work together to shape a single whole, joining speech and song, performer and audience, testimony, prayer, preaching, and singing into a seamless and multifaceted service of worship. Personal stories ground the discussion at every turn, while experiential testimony fuels the unfolding arguments. Fire in My Bones is an original exploration of experience and belief in a community of African American Christians, but it is also an exploration of African American aesthetics, the study of belief, and the ethnographic enterprise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812217179
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	12/15/1999
Series:	Contemporary Ethnography
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.07(d)

About the Author

Glenn Hinson teaches anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
1.	Seeking Understanding: "You Got to Be in It to Feel It"	1
2.	Belief, Knowledge, and Experience: "The Lord Can Be Mysterious"	9
3.	Experiencing the Holy: "Just Like Fire Shut Up in My Bones"	14
4.	A Conversation: "You've Got to Open the Door"	25
5.	Beginnings: "Happy to Be in the House of Worship"	30
6.	Scripture: "It's About Being Sincere in Your Heart"	43
7.	Prayer: "The Vibrations of the Holy Spirit Go Out There"	53
8.	A Conversation: "It's the Words of Him That's Speaking Through Me"	74
9.	Song: "Sing Till the Power of the Lord Comes Down"	84
10.	Praise: "Up Above My Head, I Hear Singing in the Air"	110
11.	Welcome: "Not for the Appointment, but for the Anointment"	125
12.	Response: "God Ain't Coming into No Dead Heart"	149
13.	The Emcee: "If You Have a Dry Emcee, You Have a Dry Anniversary"	163
14.	Format: "Let's Give the Lord a Praise"	189
15.	Purpose: "The Anointing of God Breaks the Yokes"	203
16.	False Purpose: "We Didn't Come for No Form or Fashion"	230
17.	Elevation: "Go Slow, Rise High, Catch on Fire, and Sit Down"	264
18.	Invitation: "The Souls of Many Are Yet Lost"	308
19.	Benediction: "May the Grace of God Rest, Rule, and Abide"	314
Appendix	Stepping Around Experience and the Supernatural	327
	Notes	335
	Bibliography	377
	Acknowledgments	391
	Index	397

Editorial Reviews

"A superb ethnographic study of African American 'sanctified' faith. . . . Ethnography at its best. Highly recommended."

Choice

"A must-read for anyone interested in religious discourse, Black gospel programs, or description and explanation of religious experience within any domain."

Language in Society

"Ethnography at its best. Highly recommended."—Choice

"A superb ethnographic study of African American 'sanctified' faith. . . . Ethnography at its best. Highly recommended."—Choice

"A must-read for anyone interested in religious discourse, Black gospel programs, or description and explanation of religious experience within any domain."—Language in Society

From the Publisher