After I became a Christian eight or so years ago, I developed a hunger for good, sound biblical teaching. I wanted more than the emotional style of preaching I was used to hearing at black churches.
My youngest sister, who’d been a Christian years before I had, recommended a denomination that was Bible-focused, conservative, and emphasized expository preaching from men who’d gone to seminary and studied Greek and Hebrew, early church fathers, systematic theology, etc. Their style of preaching was organized in such a way that one could listen, take notes as they analyzed the text, and leave the church filled with a burning curiosity about the faith and a hunger to read, study, and learn more.
Sadly, I’ve never felt that way after leaving a black church. Oh, I’ve left the building feeling good and humming the last hymn, but the sermons didn’t leave me with any desire to go home and delve into the text. And I didn’t take notes, because the sermons weren’t organized for note-taking. The rhythmic preaching styles seemed designed to stir up emotions and draw responses rather than feed the people intellectually.
And the “shouting,” I could do without. The black church I grew up in was conservative compared to others I’ve visited; the congregation remained relatively quiet during the sermon. There was no fainting and hardly anyone shouted, although there was an occasional “Amen!” And it was only the random visitor who actually stood up in reaction to something the preacher said. To this day, when someone invites me to visit a predominantly black church, I always ask the loaded question, “People don’t shout, do they?”
But that’s just one woman’s experience. This post isn’t the gospel and doesn’t reflect every black person’s experience.
There are exceptions to the rule of course. I know there are black churches out there that emphasize teaching over fervent praise or balance the two, but more often than not, they tend to be Reformed and/or headed by someone who attended a Reformed, conservative seminary. And there are white churches light on scholarship and heavy on emotion.
I currently attend a Reformed, mostly white church that has a sprinkling of blacks and Asians. (One of the elders is a black man with a big family.) The pastor is well-known in his denomination. His passion for the word of God and for helping Christians grow in faith and knowledge and learn how to defend the faith, is contagious.
The two church styles can co-exist. The ideal church for me would combine the singing and praise style (sans shouting and call-and-response) of a typical black church with the solid scholarly sermons I get at my current church. Alas, I haven’t found such a place close by.
That’s a long intro to an issue I wanted to bring to your attention. According to “Did prof’s views on Jews, blacks cross line?,” a white law professor made a true statement — that Jews pass the bar at a higher rate than blacks — and wondered if Jews’ religious training, which involves a “critical analysis of written Scripture,” plays a part in their studiousness in law school.
The professor’s faux pas was wondering, out loud, whether his black students’ performances and exam pass rate had anything to do with growing up in black churches that “emphasize an emotional and spiritual religious experience rather than discussion and debate about the meaning of scriptural language.”
The professor’s question likely would have generated an interesting discussion but for the “intelligence” taboo. The dude obviously missed PC-diversity-indoctrination classes. Never, ever state a truth or assume you have academic freedom in an academic setting to openly discuss ideas that question or appear to question the studiousness of black students and the part their subculture might play — if you want to keep your job, that is.
Black people are immune from discussing these “dangerous” ideas or being around people discussing these ideas. It is taboo to wonder aloud why blacks as a group have lower standardized test scores and grades or pass professional examinations at lower rates than other groups — unless you point the finger at white racism and lack of government funding.
