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Berean Christian Church: A Preliminary
Case Study of African Americans, Worship and Place in Stone Mountain,
Georgia
Dianne Glave, Tulane University
December 6, 2005
Calvin College
| • Introduction by Janel Curry | 0.6 MB |
21:05 |
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| • Introductory remarks on worship and place in New Orleans | 0.9 MB |
10:19 |
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| • Remarks on religion, place, and oral history | 0.6 MB |
6:48 |
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| • Overview of Berean Christian Church | 1.4 MB |
3:55 |
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| • Analysis of a Sunday service at Berean | 3.2 MB |
9:01 |
• Partial Outline and Selected Images from this presentation
Introduction and Description
“Berean Christian Church: Katrina, African American Worship, and Place” is part of a larger research project titled “Katrina Narratives of African Americans in an Unprecedented Diaspora: A Social and Environmental Oral History Project.” In the Berean Church portion of the project, I will focus on the meaning of place, alternately the environment or landscape, to worship (prayer, sermons, praise, song, and fellowship) at Berean Christian Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The church is non-denominational and Protestant in the charismatic tradition, being predominantly African American. I will explore the biblical meaning of place interviewing the pastors, the senior pastor’s wife, and staff. This will serve as context for the church’s work with Katrina evacuees who were displaced from their homes and forced to migrate to new places including Stone Mountain, Georgia. The pastors in particular will be able to share their interpretations of place or environment in terms of the Garden of Eden, the Promised Land, and modern Israel. One point of reference will be the meaning of the location of the church as concerns choice of landscape design, along with the purposes and uses of the facilities. In addition, the images and metaphors of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with the apocalyptic destruction in Revelation reverberate in the wake of Katrina, in the South including New Orleans known for its party atmosphere particularly during Mardi Gras. This biblical meaning of place reverberates for African Americans since the metaphor of Egypt and the Promised Land still serve as metaphors of freedom harkening back to slavery. So this project will focus on the meaning of place in broad ways at the church, while emphasizing African Americans and Katrina in a more specific vein.
Also see this article from Tulane University Magazine on Dr. Glave's research:
African Americans and the Southern Environment
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