Making Space Behind the Veil: Black Agency within a Predominantly White Religion

The work of W.E.B. Du Bois highlights the significance of Christian religion in Black American life. According to Du Bois, the Black Church serves as a site of self-formation and affirmation, and the White Church as a source of racist beliefs and justifications for inequality. In this paper, we expand Du Bois’ inquiry about the influence of religion with a study of Black Americans who belong to a predominantly White religion. For those whose religious experience is almost wholly within the “white world,” what role does religion play in their lives? We analyze a set of 52 public accounts by Black Americans discussing their experiences as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). We find that for many Black LDS, membership in the LDS Church is characterized by contrast and contradiction, yielding spiritual conviction, joy, and meaningful communion on one hand, and racism and isolation on the other. We also find that Black LDS respond to these contradictions in a variety of ways. We classify these agentic responses into five types and examine the sociological significance of the observed variation. We conclude with a discussion of implications for scholarship on race and religion.     

Race,Religion, and Global Solidarities: W. E. B. Du Bois and “The Black Church” as a Contested Category

W.E.B. Du Bois was thoroughly ambivalent about the political significance of American Black churches regarding their role in challenging racial inequality. He saw them as integral to Black social life, but also as failing to live up to their potential as drivers of liberation. And, while he focused primarily on Black churches within the United States, Du Bois was also committed to Black liberation on a global level. This suggests great potential for applying DuBois’ analyses of Black religion to the question of transnational religious and racial solidarities and the global political salience of “the Black Church” as a category. In this context, this article explores the significance of DuBois’ work for analyzing the category of “the Black Church.” It does so through a comparative case study of African American Christian engagement with the issue of Israel and Palestine, with four case studies ranging from African American Christian Zionists to Palestinian solidarity activists. Across these cases, the analysis highlights the ways that the history, identity, and mission of “the Black Church” are invoked in the context of Palestine and Israel. It argues that “the Black Church” is best understood as a contested category of collective religious and racial identity.     

W. E. B. Du Bois’s “Conservation of Races”

Nothing was more important for W. E. B. Du Bois than to promote the upward mobility of African Americans. This essay revisits his “Conversation of Races” to demonstrate its general philosophical importance. Ultimately, Du Bois’s three motivations for giving the address reveal his view of the nature of philosophical inquiry: to critique earlier phenotypic conceptions of race, to show the essentiality of history, and to promote a reflexive practice. Commentators have been unduly invested in the hermeneutic readings and as a result have misunderstood its philosophical dimensions. Du Bois did more than introduce the concept of race into the purview of philosophy, he provided a method for philosophical inquiry into a concept that is notoriously difficult to approach with precision. The goal here is to show why no introduction to philosophy and no discussion about the nature of philosophical inquiry is complete without consideration of “Conservation.” Certainly, it is a text about race, but it is also an important philosophical text in general.     

ETHICS OF BEWILDERMENT

An ethics of bewilderment, which differs dramatically from the more familiar ethics of ease, is best understood through poetic presentations. Using examples drawn from Chinese and Western sources—notably Du Fu and Dante—this inquiry treats bewilderment as both an emotion and a virtue. Both these forms of bewilderment involve an acknowledgment of how minimal is the ethical confidence we have, given the feelings we have and the judgments we must make, but they also extend in productive ways the implications of that acknowledgment.     

Spiritual exercises and poetry: Pierre Hadot and Du Fu

This paper discusses poetry as a site of what Pierre Hadot calls “spiritual exercises,” with particular reference to China's greatest poet, Du Fu (712–70 C.E.). While Hadot's work has bridged gaps between (i) philosophy and religion and (ii) theory and practice, this paper suggests that spiritual exercises can also blur the modern separation between form and content. It argues for the possibility of poetry as philosophy; that is, philosophy in a less-recognized form. If poetry can be spiritual exercise and if spiritual exercise with its goal of self-transformation is the core of philosophy, then we may be able to treat poetry as one form of philosophy. The paper also demonstrates the relevance of Hadot's work for ancient Chinese and comparative philosophy more broadly.     

Functions of the Black Church in a Global Society: A Du Boisian Approach

Globalization's impact on local communities is a topic that religious congregations should address as a means of moral and socioeconomic well-being. This is especially important for the Black Church if it hopes to continue supporting the socioeconomic outcomes of its congregants and community members, as it has in the past. Using Du Boisian assessments of the functions of the Black Church, this study assessed how today's congregations can serve similar functions as the congregations that Du Bois studied, while exploring contemporary concerns. With an explanatory sequential research design, this study surveyed Philadelphia-based congregations (N = 108) to assess their understanding of and engagement with the impact of globalization on future generations, paired with subsequent interviews (N = 15) for deeper analysis. The survey included clergy members and youth leaders of various races and religious traditions. With an eye toward equity and considering Philadelphia's diverse demographics, the in-depth semistructured interviews centered on Black churches in Philadelphia. The core findings highlight that clergy members in Philadelphia recognize the importance of prioritizing global issues as a means of social betterment and that a special lens toward race should be considered when looking to solve socioeconomic global issues.     

《易纬·乾凿度》残篇文解析--西汉形上思想的成就

摘要<易纬·乾凿度>残篇文保存下来论气化宇宙的一节文字,这节文字所含的形上思想体系乃是以<易经>哲学为架构并融合了道家思想而成,它反映了汉代形上思想的最高成就.就形上思想的严密结构而论,自先秦以来,唯有此一思想体系能与儒、道两家并立而三.     

Some Oedipal problems in work with adopted children and their parents

This paper has two main theses. Firstly that Oedipal material is a particular feature of clinical work with adopted children; secondly, that the concept of developmental deficit, and not only that of psychic defence, is essential to an understanding of this aspect of the work with adopted children and their families. Three levels are distinguished at which Oedipal difficulties are manifest: the first two within the individual child and the third within the triangle formed by the child, his adoptive parents and the child psychotherapist. Some consideration is given to the limitations of a conventional treatment framework for containing the powerful Oedipal dynamic forces at play when an adopted child is a patient in individual psychotherapy. Dieser Artikel hat zwei Hauptthesen. Erstens, dass ödipales Material ein besonderes Merkmal der klinischen Arbeit mit adoptierten Kindern ist; zweitens dass das Konzept eines Entwicklungsdefizit, und nicht nur das eines psychischen Abwehrmechanismus, für das Verstehen dieses Aspekts der Arbeit mit adoptierten Kindern und ihren Familien unerlässlich ist. Es werden drei Stufen differenziert, in denen sich ödipale Schwierigkeiten manifestieren: die ersten zwei innerhalb des Kindes und die dritte innerhalb des Dreiecks, das vom Kind, seinen Adoptiveltern und dem Kindertherapeuten gebildet wird. Es werden überlegungen bezüglich der Grenzen des konventionellen Behandlungsrahmens angestellt, inwieweit er die mächtigen ödipalen dynamischen Kräfte, die im Spiel sind, 'containen' kann, wenn ein adoptiertes Kind Patient in individueller Psychotherapie ist. Dans son texte, l'auteur développe deux thèses principales: d'abord, que le matériel ?dipien est d'une importance particulière dans le traitement d'enfants adoptés; et, ensuite, que le concept de trouble déficitaire du développement, en plus de celui de défense psychique, est essentiel pour comprendre cet aspect de la prise en charge d'enfants adoptés et de leur famille. L'auteur distingue trois niveaux auxquels se manifestent la problématique ?dipienne?:?les deux premiers concernent l'enfant lui-même en tant qu'individu, le troisième renvoie au triangle composé de l'enfant, de ses parents adoptifs et du psychothérapeute. Certaines limitations imposées par le cadre thérapeutique traditionnel sont ensuite explorées, notamment par rapport à la possibilité de contenir la puissante dynamique ?dipienne évoquée dès qu'un enfant adopté est pris en psychothérapie individuelle. Questo articolo sostiene due tesi principali. La prima e' che il materiale edipico e' una caratteristica particolare del lavoro clinico con bambini adottati; la seconda e' che il concetto di deficit evolutivo, e non solo quello di difesa psichica, e' essenziale per capire questo aspetto del lavoro con bambini adottati e le loro famiglie. Vengono distinti tre livelli in cui si manifestano le difficolta' edipiche: i primi due all'interno del singolo bambino, il terzo all'interno del triangolo formato dal bambino, dai suoi genitori adottivi e dallo psicoterapeuta infantile. Vengono fatte alcune considerazioni sulle limitazioni che il contesto terapeutico convenzionale ha nel contenere le potenti forze dinamiche edipiche in gioco quando un bambino adottato diventa paziente in terapia individuale.     

Introduction: W. E. B. Du Bois: Religion and Social Inequality

W.E.B. Du Bois understood the critical role religion plays in power inequities in the, world. He was very acquainted with how it is used as a tool to exclude and subordinate human beings and yet, at the same time, serve as a source of refuge. This special issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion is a collection of articles that examines religion and social inequality from a variety of different angles with a Du Boisian lens. When we focus our lens on religion and social inequality, we are highlighting the ways in which religion plays a part in the unequal distribution of power across social groups in society. This special issue focuses on how religion impacts social life and the way individuals and groups embody or struggle to reclaim their agency within a context of silent oppression at times and not-so-silent oppression at others times at the personal-, group-, and global levels.