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Article: "Amen" and "Ashe": African American Protestant worship and its West African ancestor.
- Article from:
- CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health
- Article date:
- June 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In this essay I am going to explore and reflect on similarities between the expressions of ecstatic African American liturgy and its foundation within West African Yoruba tradition. Initially, it may seem unlikely that there would be much similarity between the two, especially given the difference in geography, history, and the divergent religious symbolism that is expressed in each. On the one hand, African American Protestantism is iconoclastic and places a strong emphasis of Jesus as the exclusive focus of salvation. On the other hand, West African Yoruba religion incorporates what seems to be a pantheon of images and deities into its practices. However, a closer look ...