Black Catholic Studies Reader: History and Theology ed. by David J. Endres

Abstract

Reviewed by: Black Catholic Studies Reader: History and Theology ed. by David J. Endres Maurice J. Nutt CSsR Black Catholic Studies Reader: History and Theology. Edited by David J. Endres. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021. 285 pages. $29.95. For some the proposition of being Black and Catholic is paradoxical, an anomaly—something that deviates from what is deemed normative. The sheer presence of Black Catholics unsettles some of the most deeply held assumptions about religion in the United States: that Catholics are White, and that Black people are Protestant. But the majority of Black Christians in the Western hemisphere are actually Catholic, and the majority of Catholics in the Western hemisphere and the Americas are not white. To be clear, African American Catholics experience a double invisibility. In the Black world, they are marginalized because of their religious identity as Catholics; in the Catholic world, they are marginalized because of their racial and cultural identity. Yet, African American Catholics have not allowed their perceived double invisibility to deter their seemingly uncommon faithfulness to Catholicism, ethnic pride, and quest for equity and justice, nor their commitment to the church’s mission of evangelization. These assumptions or misconceptions about Black Catholics are alleviated and percipient clarity is provided in a new anthology, Black Catholic Studies Reader: History and Theology. Edited by Father David J. Endres, editor of U.S. Catholic Historian, this text is divided into five parts addressing from Black Catholic perspectives the interdisciplinary subjects of Black Catholic studies, history, spirituality, liturgy, Black Catholic biographies, and bibliographies. This monograph brilliantly offers at once a metaphorical interlocuter between Black Catholic scholars who are now with God, namely, Cyprian Davis, OSB, Thea [End Page 76] Bowman, FSPA, and Clarence Joseph Rivers, with notable established theologians, historians, and activists, M. Shawn Copeland, Diana L. Hayes, Bryan Massingale, Diane Batts Morrow, Ronald LaMarr Sharps, and Cecilia A. Moore, with stellar emerging scholars, C. Vanessa White and Kim Harris, all the while enlightening and challenging the reader to better grasp what it inherently means to be Black and Catholic. Each essay poignantly invites the reader to a consequential discovery of the theologizing, significant historical contributions, spiritual virtues, values, resistance, and resilience, liturgical adaptation and liturgical justice through Black sacred songs, musicality, and the enduring sustenance of the spirituals, aesthetic inculturation, and the valiant lives, scholarly writings, religiosity, and intellectual sensibilities of African American Catholics. Given the recent and ever-present racial reckoning for racial justice by Black people in America, the Black Catholic Studies Reader is most timely. While this text acknowledges the 400 years of enslavement of Black populations in the Americas, the contributors are also cognizant of the residual effects that persist to this day and their essays reflect the ongoing struggles that Black Catholics contend with both in civic and ecclesial settings. Bryan Massingale’s essay speaks to the importance of the Black Catholic scholar’s vocation in assisting Black people navigate the nefarious terrain found both in the church and society. He writes, “Black Catholic theological scholarship, then, must originate from a stance of engagement and commitment. It cannot maintain a posture of dispassionate objectivity or academic distance, for theology and intellectual inquiry are matters of life and death for our people. Yet despite its passion on behalf of the victims of systemic injustice—and I would argue precisely because of this bias—this theological scholarship must also be rigorous, disciplined, and painstaking. The complexity and urgency of our situation as Black believers in the United States do not permit us the luxury of indulging superficial analysis, simplistic interpretations, irresponsible solutions, or intellectual laziness” (14). Academicians and students (both graduate and undergraduate) alike will resonate with both the scholarly research and pastoral approach this book offers. The Black Catholic historical chronology (1452–2020) and Black Catholic bibliographical scholarship (1854– 2020) provided by Ronald LaMarr Sharps is an invaluable cherished asset. [End Page 77] Well researched, and chronicled, the Black Catholic Studies Reader is a valuable resource and is a welcomed addition to the emerging lexicon on Black Catholicism. Maurice J. Nutt CSsR Black Catholic Theological Symposium Copyright © 2022 American Catholic Historical Society