Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when the children in Jonestown were put to death by adult members, most of whom then took their own lives. Only a handful lived to tell their story. As is well known, Jim Jones was white, but most of his followers were black. Despite that, litt [...]
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The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when the children in Jonestown were put to death by adult members, most of whom then took their own lives. Only a handful lived to tell their story. As is well known, Jim Jones was white, but most of his followers were black. Despite that, little has been written about the Peoples Temple from the point of view of the black experience in America. In ten essays, all but two specially commissioned for this volume, scholars from various disciplines address this gap in the scholarship on the Peoples Temple. Twenty five years after the tragedy at Jonestown, they assess the impact of the black religious experience on Peoples Temple.The book begins with an essay that helps frame the discussion that follows by defining the parameters of black religious studies while pointing to the diversity of paths taken by practitioners of black religion. The next two essays, written soon after Jonestown, present early assessments of Peoples Temple in historical perspective and in relation to the Black Church in America. The following piece examines the demographics of the Peoples Temple.Other essays examine the social context of the movement's latter years, Jones' preaching style, his theology and its relationship to his recruitment of black members, and his appropriation of black revolutionary rhetoric. The final essay sums up the Peoples Temple as a 'church'.