Cailin Counihan

AAFS 341
02/24/2022
Paper 4
The Dynamic Nature of Black Faith

In the reading “The Dialectical Model of the Black Church” the author discusses the six

major polarities that generally exist within black religious institutions. One fellowship may lean

more to one side of the polarities than the other, but they all exist on a continuum and are not

mutually exclusive. It is completely possible for different churches to practice the same faith and

have widely different customs along these spectrums.

The only faith I have ever practiced was Catholicism when I was younger. My parents are

Catholic, and I went to a Catholic school for much of my childhood. While I am not a practicing

Catholic today, I have many memories of many different churches I have attended in the past.

Pretty much every single one was exactly like the other. The masses were very scripted and

ritualistic. The priest said the same words and we said the same words back. This was one of the

reasons I never truly engaged with the service. After attending several Baptist masses, I realized

how much more affected and immersed you felt in the worship you are participating in when you

aren’t just going through the same motions every time. It is well known that Catholic masses are

notoriously rigid which is why you don’t tend to find these differences in polarities across

different fellowships.

As stated in the reading, the reason that Black Churches have these variations along the

six spectrums this way is because black faith has gone through many more trials and tribulations

since the beginning of time. They are much more complex and dynamic because of the more

complex interactions that black people have had with their faith. I thought the way it was
described as black faith having had to assume more burden than white faith has created these

dynamics and so many deeper complexities exist within them.