Excerpt

”Nearly a century has passed since W.E.B. Du Bois identified 'the problem of the twentieth century,' but as the millennium arrives, the legacy of the color line is still palpable in American life. One of the times that line is still deeply inscribed and observed is Sunday morning."

”Many have agreed with Dr. King that the African American saga transcends its historical particulars to speak to common human hopes. For generations the Black church has been at the heart of that saga, and Reverend Brown now speaks of his spiritual tradition as a body of thought that offers what he calls ‘correctives’ to the dominant culture — a moral and intellectual discourse that issues a steady call for America to fulfill its promise. 

We might think that a place that can do that — a place that fueled one of the great transformations of American society, and which has preserved real community through the twentieth century — is a place that has some vital clues, not only for its core members but for the larger community of the nation.”

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