A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK

The third and final volume in the first comprehensive history of Black social Christianity, by the “greatest theological ethicist of the twenty-first century” (Michael Eric Dyson)

Format: Hardback
Length: 632 pages
Publication date: 12 September 2023
Publisher: Yale University Press

The Black social gospel holds a profound and enduring significance in the fabric of American society, as argued by Gary Dorrien in his groundbreaking trilogy on the history of Black social Christianity. This concluding volume, an interpretation of the tradition since the early 1970s, follows Dorrien's award-winning works, The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel and Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel.

Beginning in the shadow of Martin Luther King Jr., Dorrien delves into the past fifty years of this intellectual and activist tradition, exploring its politics, theology, ethics, social criticism, and social justice organizing. He posits that Black social Christianity has evolved into an intersectional tradition of discourse and activist religion that intertwines liberation theology, womanist theology, antiracist politics, LGBTQ+ theory, cultural criticism, progressive religion, broad-based interfaith organizing, and global solidarity politics.

A Darkly Radiant Vision offers in-depth discussions of prominent figures such as Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Samuel DeWitt Proctor, Gayraud Wilmore, James Cone, Cornel West, Katie Geneva Cannon, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Traci Blackmon, William J. Barber II, Raphael G. Warnock, and many others. This volume serves as a valuable contribution to the study of Black social Christianity, shedding light on its historical development, theoretical frameworks, and practical implications for building a more just and equitable society.

Weight: 1094g
Dimension: 167 x 244 x 42 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300264524