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Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora

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ISBN-10:: 0807012211
ISBN-13:: 9780807012215
Pub. Date:: 01/30/1995
Publisher:: Beacon Press

ISBN-10:: 0807012211
ISBN-13:: 9780807012215
Pub. Date:: 01/30/1995
Publisher:: Beacon Press

Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora

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Overview

"An appreciative and user-friendly book on religion in the African diaspora. Murphy's skillfully drawn portraits offer an inviting introduction to the religious worlds of Vodou, Candomble, Santeria, Revival Zion, and the Black Church" – David W. Wills, Amherst College

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807012215
Publisher:	Beacon Press
Publication date:	01/30/1995
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Joseph M. Murphy is the Paul J. (C'62) and Chandler M. Tagliabue Distinguished Professor in Interfaith Studies and Dialogue in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University.

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Editorial Reviews

'A brilliant comparative study of the workings of the Spirit among practitioners of African-derived religions. . . . A 'must read' for students of African, Caribbean, Brazilian, and African American religions.' —Choice

From the Publisher

Blending personal observation with analysis of numerous secondary sources, Murphy, an associate professor of theology at Georgetown University, looks closely at five diasporan religions: Haitian voodoo; Brazilian candomble; Cuban and Cuban-American santeria; Jamaican Revival Zion; and the American ``Black Church.'' He is a sensitive and close observer, offering much valuable detail on the history and development of religious practice. Most important, though, is the final chapter in which Murphy explores the similarities among the religions, such as the interdependence of human and spirit, the relationship between the one God and the multiple spirits, and the retention of certain African inflections despite the obvious syncretism. It is the ``work of rhythm, song and movement'' that animates such traditions in public ceremonies, he writes. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Murphy ( Santeria: African Spirits in America , Beacon, 1988) casts his net wider in this work, examining and experiencing the commonalities of African traditions found in five cases of black religious rituals in the Western hemisphere. The reader is exposed to santeria in Haiti and Cuba, a Revival Zion church in Jamaica, candomble in Brazil, and African American church services in Washington, D.C. Running through all of them, he feels, is an African ``spirituality of incarnation'' through which each of them, despite their differences, celebrates a spiritual freedom from an oppressive world. Recommended for black studies and religion collections.-- Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Inst. Lib., Stanford, Cal.

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