Songs Of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church In The United States And South Africa

Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa

Founded by free people of color in Philadelphia in the aftermath of the American Revolution, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church emerged in the nineteenth century as the preeminent black institution in the United States. In 1896, the church opened mission work in South Africa, absorbing an independent "Ethiopian" church founded by dissident African Christians a few years earlier. In the process, the church helped ignite one of the most influential popular movements in South African history.Songs of Zion examines this remarkable historical convergence from both sides of the Atlantic. James Campbell charts the origins and evolution of black American independent churches, arguing that the very act of becoming Christian forced African Americans to reflect on their relationship to their ancestral continent. He then turns to South Africa, exploring the AME Church's entrance and evolution in a series of specific South African contexts. Throughout the book, Campbell focuses on the comparisons that Africans and African Americans themselves drew between their situations. Their transatlantic encounter, he argues, enabled both groups to understand and act upon their worlds in new ways.ReviewA major contribution to a genre just beginning to appear, what one can only call transatlantic history."Transition"A sweeping, powerful, vibrant study.Frederick Jackson Turner Award committeeCampbell's analysis is illuminating, important and in some ways courageous."American Historical Review"Prodigiously researched, well crafted, and insightful."Journal of American History""A major contribution to a genre just beginning to appear, what one can only call transatlantic history."Transition"""A sweeping, powerful, vibrant study.Frederick Jackson Turner Award committee""Campbell's analysis is illuminating, important and in some ways courageous."American Historical Review"""Prodigiously researched, well crafted, and insightful."Journal of American History""A wonderful example of the best of comparative religious history."Religious Studies Review"ReviewJames T. Campbell's Songs of Zion should rank as the most significant work in African-American religious history to appear since Albert Raboteau's 1979 classic Slave Religion.--History Book Reviews On-LineFrom the Inside FlapDiscusses the interaction between the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and in South Africa, arguing that each group influenced the other to understand and act on their worlds in new ways.From the Back CoverDiscusses the interaction between the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and in South Africa, arguing that each group influenced the other to understand and act on their worlds in new ways.About the AuthorJames T. Campbell is senior research officer at the Institute for Advanced Social Research at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.