ECU Libraries Catalog

The Black Coptic Church : race and imagination in a new religion / Leonard Cornell McKinnis II.

Author/creator McKinnis, Leonard Cornell author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info New York : New York University Press, [2023]
Copyright Notice ©2023
Descriptionxv, 237 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Subject(s)
Series Religion, race, and ethnicity
Religion, race, and ethnicity. ^A589193
Contents Introduction : Earthquake -- The origin of a prophet : Cicero Patterson and the Black Coptic imagination -- "Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto God" : imagination, ideational heroism, and the turn to Blackness -- Rituals of freedom : imagining and performing otherwise -- "Somehow, someway" : Black Coptic women and the politics of gender -- Divine (primordial) Blackness : imagination, hope, and a word on Afro-pessimism -- Conclusion : Imagination and the future of Black Coptic religion.
Abstract "This book is an ethnographic study that explores the intersection of race, religion, and the construction of Black identity as imagined and performed in religious practices and rituals of the Black Coptic Church, an Ethiopianist New Religious Movement that emerged in Chicago during the Great Migration"-- Provided by publisher.
Abstract "From the Moorish Science Temple to the Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine to the Commandment Keepers sect of Black Judaism, myriad Black new religious movements developed during the time of the Great Migration. Many of these stood outside of Christianity, but some remained at least partially within the Christian fold. The Black Coptic Church is one of these. Black Coptics combined elements of Black Protestant and Black Hebrew traditions with Ethiopianism as a way of constructing a divine racial identity that embraced the idea of a royal Egyptian heritage for its African American followers, a heroic identity that was in stark contrast to the racial identity imposed on African Americans by the white dominant culture. This embrace of a royal Blackness--what McKinnis calls an act of "fugitive spirituality"--illuminates how the Black Coptic tradition in Chicago and beyond uniquely employs a religio-performative imagination. McKinnis asks, 'What does it mean to imagine Blackness?' Drawing on ten years of archival research and interviews with current members of the church, The Black Coptic Church offers a look at a group that insisted on its own understanding of its divine Blackness. In the process, it provides a more complex look at the diverse world of Black religious life in North America, particularly within non-mainstream Christian churches"-- Provided by publisher..
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 217-225) and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: McKinnis, Leonard Cornell. Black Coptic Church. New York : New York University Press, [2023] 1479816485
LCCN 2022037447
ISBN9781479816453 (hardcover)
ISBN1479816450 (hardcover)
ISBN9781479816460 (paperback)
ISBN1479816469 (paperback)
ISBN(consumer ebook)
ISBN(library ebook)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner New Books BP605 .B625 M38 2023 ✔ Available Place Hold