Introduction

Overall, this chapter presents the book’s core argument: African American religion’s response to social inequalities is best described as a symbiotic relationship between socio-political activism and spiritual restoration. After a brief discussion of how African American religious traditions have been traditionally categorized, this chapter uncovers a system of categorization that views traditions along either political or spiritual lines. The chapter goes on to show how underappreciated religions like African American Spiritual Churches have, since the early twentieth century, resisted a bipolar mode of categorization by exercising a “politico-spiritual” approach to injustice. The chapter closes with the plan of the book.