An Introduction to Colonial African American Evangelical Theology

Who were some of the early pioneers of colonial African-American Christianity? Were there specific doctrines that shaped colonial African-American evangelical theology? Did influential colonial African-American Christians prioritize their racial identity above and beyond their Christian identity? How did some African-American Christians construct their Blackness, sense of belonging, and existence within shared space with the human-Other? The genuine Christian faith of many colonial evangelical African Americans has been, for some time, systematically ignored, dismissed, and neglected. The darker aspect of this agenda, at least for some, is that when these colonial Christians are discussed, their existence is typically reinterpreted through contemporary Western racialized politics. The greatest protagonists of this sociopolitical drama have been various influential Black scholars within and outside the academy. This project serves as an introductory discourse into the theology and authentic faith of various colonial evangelical African Americans, who influenced the identity, sense of belonging, and conceptions of shared space for Christians within and outside the colonial Black church. The journey this book will take some through is within the conservative evangelical tradition of African-American Christianity.