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These original essays by Andrew Prevot focus on the relationship between Black life and Christian spirituality. He draws on sources of African American spirituality, including the Spirituals, as well as other sources of Christian prayer, mysticism, and asceticism, including Angela of Foligno, John of the Cross, and Ignatius Loyola.
The central thesis of this learned and original work: Black people are made to be loved. This is God’s unambiguous will, and anything that contravenes it is incompatible with true Christian spirituality.
Andrew Prevot is the Joseph and Winifred Amaturo Chair in Catholic Studies; senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; professor in theology and religious studies; and affiliate faculty in Black studies at Georgetown University. He is the author of The Mysticism of Ordinary Life: Theology, Philosophy, and Feminism and Thinking Prayer: Theology and Spirituality amid the Crises of Modernity. He is also co-editor, with Vincent Lloyd, of Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics.
“For Andrew Prevot, the desire to be ‘authentically Black and truly Catholic’ serves as an invitation to explore traditionally disconnected philosophical traditions in order to discover remarkable convergences. Prevot invites the reader to experience joy as we follow him along paths that are refreshingly, uniquely instructive for learning how multiple traditions of asceticism, mysticism, and seeking justice can bring all the children of God to a true Welcome Table. Inspired by a ‘cloud of witnesses,’ he give us proof that the truly inclusive Communion of Saints can inspire us, every day.”
–Rev. Joseph A. Brown, SJ, PhD, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
