Righteous Content: Black Women's Perspectives of Church and Faith

by Daphne C. Wiggins

Overview

Enter most African American congregations and you are likely to see the century-old pattern of a predominantly female audience led by a male pastor. How do we explain the dedication of African American women to the church, particularly when the church's regard for women has been questioned?
Following in the footsteps of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's pathbreaking work, Righteous Discontent, Daphne Wiggins takes a contemporary look at the religiosity of black women. Her ethnographic work explores what is behind black women's intense loyalty to the church, bringing to the fore the voices of the female membership of black churches as few have done. Wiggins illuminates the spiritual sustenance the church provides black women, uncovers their critical assessment of the church's ministry, and interprets the consequences of their limited collective activism.
Wiggins paints a vivid portrait of what lived religion is like in black women's lives today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814794098
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2006
Series:	Religion, Race, and Ethnicity , #23
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Daphne C. Wiggins is associate pastor and coordinator of congregational ministries at Union Baptist Church, Durham, NC. Formerly, she was Assistant Professor of Congregational Studies at Duke Divinity School.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Hearing from the Sisters
1 We Always Went to Church: Women and Religious Socialization
2 Where Somebody Knows My Name: The Culture of the Black Church
3 The Fuel That Keeps Me Going: Practical and Spiritual Assistance
4 We Went to the Church for Everything: The Mission of the Church
5 If It Weren’t for the Women: Female Labor and Leadership in the Church
6 We’re Part of the Same Culture: Racial Awareness and Religion
7 The Conclusion of the Matter
Appendix I
Appendix II
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Wiggins captures voices normally taken for granted: the voices of African American female laity. Based on fieldwork, surveys, and semistructured interviews, the book reveals a complex representation of thirty-eight African American churchwomen from two congregations (one Baptist and one Church of God in Christ.)”
-Journal of Religion,

“Daphne Wiggins has made a major contribution to our understanding of the religion, wisdom, and social power of African American women. This book should be required reading for church leaders, seminary professors, and sociologists of American religion who often take Black women's religiosity for granted. Wiggins offers us that rare gift found in the finest ethnographic studies, a vivid sense of the inner world of the people in their own voices. I learned something new on every page. A tour de force of insight and lively writing chock full of practical suggestions for improving church life.”
-Robert M. Franklin,author of Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis

“Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women's theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew.”
-Marcia Y. Riggs,J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, Columbia Theological Seminary

“Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black women’s religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined.”
-The North Star

,

“This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections.”
-Choice

Editorial Reviews

"This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections."

Choice

"Wiggins captures voices normally taken for granted: the voices of African American female laity. Based on fieldwork, surveys, and semistructured interviews, the book reveals a complex representation of thirty-eight African American churchwomen from two congregations (one Baptist and one Church of God in Christ)."

Journal of Religion

"Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black womens religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined."

The North Star

"Wiggins captures voices normally taken for granted: the voices of African American female laity. Based on fieldwork, surveys, and semistructured interviews, the book reveals a complex representation of thirty-eight African American churchwomen from two congregations (one Baptist and one Church of God in Christ)."

Journal of Religion

This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections.”

- Choice

From the Publisher

"Daphne Wiggins has made a major contribution to our understanding of the religion, wisdom, and social power of African American women. This book should be required reading for church leaders, seminary professors, and sociologists of American religion who often take Black women's religiosity for granted. Wiggins offers us that rare gift found in the finest ethnographic studies, a vivid sense of the inner world of the people in their own voices. I learned something new on every page. A tour de force of insight and lively writing chock full of practical suggestions for improving church life."

Robert M. Franklin

"Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women's theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew."

Marcia Y. Riggs