ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the black branch of the Primitive Baptist church resembles, in a theological and organizational sense, the white branch from which it separated in the late nineteenth century. While there are strong stylistic differences in the narrative forms of the two divisions of the church, and while vision narratives are more common among black Primitive Baptists than white, the black vision accounts discussed here nevertheless share many features with those in the white church. Sermons in the Primitive Baptist service contain a loosely organized mixture of Bible commentary, moral teaching, hortatory remarks, and vision narratives, and the final combination cannot be predicted, even by the preacher himself. In addition to the many symbolic elements shared by the vision narratives of these Primitive Baptists, there are common structural patterns as well. As in many Primitive Baptist vision accounts, the images which carry the heaviest load recall well-known Biblical passages.
