In Black Men Worshipping, Stacy Boyd has taken a bold stepin analyzing the problems and possibilitiesof black masculinity across a range of cultural locations - most notably certain African American church communities.With deft interdisciplinarity, heconsiders the historical and contemporary assumptionsand ideologies of black masculinity dating back to Harriet Beecher's Stowe's Uncle Tom and the evangelical masculinity associated with ministers like T.D. Jakes.An impressive study for which he should be commended. - Jeffrey B. Leak, Associate Professor, Department of English, the University of North Carolina (Charlotte)
In Black Men Worshipping, Stacy Boyd analyzes a complex constellation of factors that affect the performance of black Christian masculinity in American history and in so doing, expands our understanding of how black men negotiate the multiple and contradictory social constructions that black, male, and Christian conjure in our imaginations. Black Men Worshipping is a timely and critical intervention into the popular discourse on black evangelical celebrities, and it uniquely places popular figures such as T.D. Jakes and Donnie McClurkin within a grand historical narrative of black masculinity and religiosity in literary and filmic discourses. This text is aesthetically adept and poetically positioned to make an important contribution to Gender and Sexuality Studies, Religious Studies, and Africana Studies - it is a much-welcomed addition that will enhance student learning and will be a reliable source for academicians in any of these fields. - LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Williams College