Black Church Culture and Community Action

2005/12/01 by S. L. Barnes, Stephen L. Barnes · 207 citations
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Action (physics) #Homelessness and Social Issues #Political science #Religion and Society Interactions #Religion, Society, and Development #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1353/sof.2006.0003

published in Social Forces 84(2), 967-994 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2005/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Cultural theory posits that social groups possess a cultural repertoire or “tool kit” that reflects beliefs, ritual practices, stories and symbols that provide meaning and impetus for resource mobilization. However, little research based on quantitative techniques has been forwarded relative to the relationship between longstanding Black Church cultural components — specifically, scripture, songs, prayers and sermons — and activism among Black churches. Using a large national sample of Black congregations across seven denominations, I test aspects of cultural theory. Findings support the consistent, direct relationship between prayer groups and gospel music and various forms of community action and less influence by spirituals and the general usage of sacred scripture.

Citations

• Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation
• ‘To Whom Much Has Been Given...’: Religious Capital and Community Voluntarism Among Churchgoing Protestants
• Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies
• The Religious Context of Prejudice

Cited by

• Is the Black Church Dead?: Religious Resilience and the Contemporary Functions of Black Christianity
• The Black Church Revisited: Toward a New Millennium DuBoisian Mode of Inquiry
• “Ye Double‐Minded”: Black Parishioners’ Attitudes toward Nonaffirming Church Climates
• "We've Got to Bring Information to Where People Are Comfortable": Community-Based Advance Care Planning with the Black Community. [europepmc]
• Exploring pastoral attitudes and lived experiences of people living with HIV and/or AIDS: A case study of churches in Thulamela Municipality, South Africa. [europepmc]

Related

• Faith and Works: Church-Based Social Capital Resources and African American Political Activism
• Is the Black Church Dead?: Religious Resilience and the Contemporary Functions of Black Christianity
• Priestly and Prophetic Influences on Black Church Social Services
• “The Saints Go Marching”: Black Pentecostal Critical Consciousness and the Political Protest Activism of Pastors and Leaders in the Church of God in Christ in the Civil Rights Era
• Black Reltrad: Measuring Religious Diversity and Commonality Among African Americans