The Hum: Call and Response in African American Preaching.

Evans E. Crawford with Thomas H. Troeger.

ISBN 10: 0687180201 / ISBN 13: 9780687180202

Published by Abingdon Press Preacher's Library, Nashville, 1995

About this Item

Analysis of African-American folk preaching derived from a West African tradition. 92 pages, endnotes.

Seller Inventory # 12937

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Hum: Call and Response in African American Preaching.
• Publisher: Abingdon Press Preacher's Library, Nashville
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0687180201
• ISBN 13: 9780687180202
• Binding: Softcover, trade paperback.
• Condition: Fine.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Religion, Spirituality

About this title

Synopsis

In The Hum: Call and Response in African Preaching, Evans E. Crawford, with Thomas H. Troeger, relates his analysis of African American folk preaching by relying upon an indigenous scheme for evaluation. The call/response tension in black preaching (derived from a West African tradition) is what drives the musicality of speech in black churches. Crawford refers to this musicality as "hum thoughts" and one can imagine the choir responding with a low rumbling hum to the musical intonations of a motivated preacher.

Key features: a new volume in the Abingdon Preacher's Library, edited by Thomas H. Troeger; a different approach to preaching, firmly rooted in the black experience; leads the reader to understand preaching as an oral event; uses the term "homiletical musicality" to describe the musical understanding of the way sermons are heard and the oral response they awaken in the listener; and, coins new phrases for describing the preaching event.

About the Author

Interim Dean, Howard University School of Divinity