This compendium of primary resources reflects the important but often overshadowed contribution of African American believers to the dynamic growth of the modern Pentecostal movement--the fastest-growing segment of global Christianity. The doctrinal statements, sermons, songs, testimonies, news articles, as well as scholarly treatises included here allow black leaders, scholars, and laypeople to speak in their own voices and use their own language to tell us their stories and articulate the issues that have been important to them throughout the one-hundred-year history of this movement. Among the constant themes that continue to emerge is their appreciation of an empowering encounter with the Holy Spirit as the resource for engaging the dehumanizing racial reality of contemporary America.

Many American Christians remain ignorant of black Pentacostalism. In this expansive historical overview, Estrelda Alexander recounts the story of African American Pentecostal origins and development. Whether you come from this tradition or you just want to learn more, this book will unfold all the dimensions of this important movement's history and contribution to the life of the church.

Learning from Black voices means listening to more than snippets. It means attending to Black stories. Reading Black Books helps Christians hear and learn from enduring Black voices and stories as captured in classic African American literature. Pastor and teacher Claude Atcho offers a theological approach to 10 seminal texts of 20th-century African American literature. Each chapter takes up a theological category for inquiry through a close literary reading and theological reflection on a primary literary text, from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Richard Wright's Native Son to Zora Neale Hurston's Moses, Man of the Mountain and James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain. The book includes end-of-chapter discussion questions. Reading Black Books helps readers of all backgrounds learn from the contours of Christian faith formed and forged by Black stories, and it spurs continued conversations about racial justice in the church. It demonstrates that reading about Black experience as shown in the literature of great African American writers can guide us toward sharper theological thinking and more faithful living.

The Black radical recounts his life among hoboes during the Depression, his duty in World War II, his insurrectionary acts, and the formation of his goal of a communist-style revolution of non-white peoples

The first biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer, told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco. When San Francisco Daily Morning Call reporter Mark Twain met Tom Sawyer in 1863, he was seeking a subject for his first novel. He learned that Sawyer was a volunteer firefighter, local hero, and a former “Torch Boy,” racing ahead of hand-drawn fire engines at night carrying torches to light the way. When a mysterious serial arsonist known as “The Lightkeeper” was in the process of burning San Francisco to the ground, Sawyer played a key role in stopping him, helping to contain what is now considered the most disastrous and costly series of fires ever experienced by an American metropolis. By chronicling how Sawyer took it upon himself to investigate, expose, and stop the arsonist, Black Fire details Sawyer’s remarkable life and illustrates why Twain would later feel compelled to name his iconic character after him when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. A vivid portrayal of the gritty, corrupt, and violent world of the Gold Rush-era West, Black Fire is the most vibrant and thorough account of Sawyer’s relationship with Mark Twain, and of the devastating fires that baptized San Francisco.

After killing his abusive father in self-defense and spending seven years in an institution, a man tries to rebuild his life. But it looks like his father has come back for revenge.