Songs of Zion - by James T Campbell (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"A major contribution to a genre just beginning to appear, what one can only call transatlantic history. . . . Campbell has produced a sprawling history, impressive not only in its breadth and depth of research, but in the graceful prose and absolute authority it brings to a host of topics. . . . Remarkably free of jargon, political moralizing, and ideological prescriptions, Songs of Zion stands as a major contribution to the emerging history of the Black Atlantic in all its ambiguity and richness." -- Transition

"A must for scholars and students interested in black nationalism, the AME Church, and race relations. Songs of Zion serves as a magnificent blueprint for comparative study on the AME Church in the United States and South Africa." -- History: Reviews of New Books

"A wonderful example of the best of comparative religious history." -- Religious Studies Review

"Campbell's analysis is illuminating, important and in some ways courageous. . . . [His] innovative treatment of transatlantic connections stands out as a historically grounded approach to the study of . . . the 'Black Atlantic.'" -- American Historical Review

"Essential reading for anyone who hopes to understand the character of black people and, by virtue of that, the American spirit as well. Balanced in every respect, rich in research, James Campbell's history of the AME Church on two continents is a major contribution to the literature of the African diaspora." -- Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage

"James 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-Line

"One can only marvel at Campbell's command of both countries' histories." -- South African Business Day

"Prodigiously researched, well crafted, and insightful." -- Journal of American History