1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782536603321

Autore

Owens Michael Leo

Titolo

God and government in the ghetto [[electronic resource] ] : the politics of church-state collaboration in Black America / / Michael Leo Owens

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2007

ISBN

1-281-96613-4

9786611966133

0-226-64208-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (323 p.)

Collana

Morality and society series

Disciplina

322/.108996073

Soggetti

African American churches

Church and state - United States

Faith-based human services - United States

Community development, Urban - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-292) and index.

Nota di contenuto

The extent and support of African American churches' collaboration with government -- The volition to collaborate with government -- Public policy and Black neighborhood decline -- Faith in action for neighborhood redemption -- Partnering with Caesar -- Acquiring resources for neighborhood resurrection -- Complementing collaboration.

Sommario/riassunto

In recent years, as government agencies have encouraged faith-based organizations to help ensure social welfare, many black churches have received grants to provide services to their neighborhoods' poorest residents. This collaboration, activist churches explain, is a way of enacting their faith and helping their neighborhoods. But as Michael Leo Owens demonstrates in God and Government in the Ghetto, this alliance also serves as a means for black clergy to reaffirm their political leadership and reposition moral authority in black civil society. Drawing on both survey data and fieldwork in New York City, Owens reveals that African American churches can use these newly forged connections with public agencies to influence policy and government responsiveness in a way that reaches beyond traditional electoral or



protest politics. The churches and neighborhoods, Owens argues, can see a real benefit from that influence-but it may come at the expense of less involvement at the grassroots. Anyone with a stake in the changing strategies employed by churches as they fight for social justice will find God and Government in the Ghetto compelling reading.