This book identifies how church cultural components are created, developed, and used to educate and empower adherents, and whether and how these tools are associated with the historic Black Church. The book is particularly interested in how large Black congregations - megachurches - use rituals found in worship, theology, racial beliefs, programmatic efforts, and other tools from their cultural repertoire to instruct congregants to model success in word and deed. The book's findings illustrate that Black megachurches strive to model success on various fronts by tapping into effective historic Black Church tools and creating cultural kits that foster excitement, expectation, and entitlement.

Autorentext

Sandra L. Barnes is a joint-appointed Professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Development and the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Her research and teaching interests include urban sociology; the sociology of religion; statistics and methods; and race, class, and gender inequality. In addition to her book The Cost of Being Poor: A Comparative Study of Life in Poor Urban Neighborhoods in Gary, Indiana, Dr. Barnes' research has been published in Social Forces, Social Problems, the Journal of African American Studies, and Sociological Focus.