Christopher Z. Hobson offers the first in-depth study of prophetic traditions in African American religion. Drawing on contemporary speeches, essays, sermons, reminiscences, and works of theological speculation from 1800 to 1950, he shows how African American prophets shared a belief in a "God of the oppressed:" a God who tested the nation's ability to move toward justice and who showed favor toward struggles for equality.

• Preface


• 1. Past and Present: African American Prophecy and Its Biblical Foundations


• 2. The Hot Indignation of God: Providence, Saving History, and Theodicy


• 3. The Crisis of the Nation: Contending Voices in Prophecy


• 4. The Stone Cut Out of the Mountain: Millennium and Apocalypse


• 5. Fearing God and Not Man: Prophetic Vocation


• 6. Conclusion: Prophecy Now


• Notes


• Bibliography


• Index

Associate Professor of Englis, SUNY College at Old Westbury