Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America

1. Peoples Temple as Black Religion: Re-imagining the Contours of Black Religious Studies

1 Peoples Temple as Black Religion Re-imagining the Contours of Black Religious Studies anthony b. pinn Traditionally, discussions focusing on the theoretical and methodological shape of Black Religious Studies point to a problematic and narrow perception of the nature and content of black religion as a general category of experience. Take, for example, Gayraud Wilmore ’s framing of the field: The comprehensive cultural and holistic character of African American religion itself militates against the epistemological split that often characterizes much of what is called Religious Studies in the prestigious white theological schools and university departments of religion. The best religious scholarship in the Black academy is, perforce, “believing scholarship,” accepting all the risk that such a position entails. It could not be otherwise. The centuries-old struggle for Black humanity in a racist environment has not encouraged the development of a dispassionate, armchair science of religion for preparing the leadership of the Black Church in North America.1 It is within the move from the contextual arrangements of Black Religious Studies to its content that one gets the Christianization of the field in full force. On this point Wilmore remarks: “African American Religious Studies refers to the investigation, analysis, and ordering of a wide variety of data related to the religions of persons of African descent for the purpose of an authenticating and enriching personal faith and preparing both clergy and laity for a ministry in the Black Church and community, understood in terms of competent and faithful leadership in worship, nurture, education, and corporate action in behalf of God’s mission of liberation for all people.”2 2 anthony b. pinn This notion of the study of black religion is further restricted by an exclusionary sense of the Black Church. This term, Black Church, does not correspond to one entity. Rather, it is a reference to a collective of denominations and communions. While widely used, including in most of my work on black religion, the term is problematic in that it is typically used to signify religious communities tied together through participation in a particular history of religious formation in the United States. And the canon of such recognized congregations and communions is typically limited to the seven largest black denominations (African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Church of God in Christ, National Baptist Convention USA, National Baptist Convention of America, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention). But what about black independent communities of Christian faith? Or do most also have in mind African Americans who have made their spiritual home in the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, and so on? Additionally, there is typically presented in Black Religious Studies a bias against smaller and more theologically creative modes of religious engagement such as Peoples Temple. So conceived, traditional notions of black religion beg the question of proper study. Who, for example, should explore Peoples Temple for its religious and theological implications, and why should such a study be undertaken? While one might first lean toward New Religious Movements analysis when answering this question, this approach , I argue, does not provide the best attention to the unique dynamics of black religiosity that guided much of what defined the aesthetic (or style) and practice of Peoples Temple. Allow me to quickly provide my take on the nature of New Religious Movements scholarship as it relates to the issue at hand. NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS BACKGROUND Within the United States, “New Religious Movements” (NRMs) and an often corresponding anti-cult sentiment were present in the post–World War II years, but the anti-cult reaction as a generalizable movement did not materialize until the 1970s, in response to a growing trend toward Asian and occult religious practices embraced by baby boomers and others. An initial reaction against these religious communities revolved around disappointed families who did not appreciate the altered life and career plans of college-bound children, and those who were fundamentally opposed to the doctrine of these religious communities. By 1972 plans were underway to counter these Peoples Temple as Black Religion 3 NRMs through often coercive efforts to bring family members out of “cult” communities. Government officials did not provide the assistance anti-cult groups hoped for regarding more aggressive strategies, and so attention turned to production of literature meant to counter the claims of the new movements. With events such as the Jonestown deaths...