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Images of the African American Worship Experience
Bulfinch
April 2006
160 pages
ISBN: 0821257900
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Soul Sanctuary is the first photographic book to capture the essence and rhythms of the black Christian church. It is a multidenominational journey into the heart of the black worship experience. Photographer Jason Miccolo Johnson traveled across the country, visiting small rural and urban storefront churches and large inner-city and suburban megachurches, taking some 15,000 photographs, 165 of which are included in the book.
Soul Sanctuary captures the spirit of the black church through arresting images of congregants' facial expressions and body language, their uniforms and dress, and the dignity of their worship. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, annual day celebrations, ecstatic soloists, choir directors, prophetic preachers, angelic liturgical dancers, and peaceful moments of prayer and praise are captured in Johnson's intimate photographs.
Evocative essays by church leaders and noted theologians speak to the pictures and set the stage for a "visual call and response" reminiscent of turning the pages in a precious family album. Selected quotes from the Bible and from some of the subjects themselves add a soulful and personal dimension to the book.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BOOK
BISHOP JOHN HURST ADAMS is an adjunct professor at Candler Seminary, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2004, the former president of Paul Quinn College retired as the senior bishop of the A.M.E. Church after fifty-four years in the ministry.
REV. DR. CARDES H. BROWN, JR., has served in the ministry for nearly forty years, during which he has pastored several North Carolina churches. He is the pastor of the New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.
DR. CAIN HOPE FELDER is professor of New Testament Language and Literature and editor of the Journal of Religious Thought at the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C. He is the author of the bestselling book Troubling Biblical Waters.
REV. DR. H. BEECHER HICKS, JR., is the senior pastor of the six-thousand-member Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. A prolific writer and much sought after speaker, he has been recognized by Ebony magazine as one of America's "Fifteen Greatest African American Preachers."
REV. DR. LAWRENCE N. JONES is the former dean of Howard University School of Divinity. He is an ordained minister in the United Congregational Church of Christ. Rev. Jones has served congregations in West Salem, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; New York City; and Washington, D.C.
GORDON PARKS is a writer, filmmaker, poet, musician, and photographer who spent over twenty years at LIFE magazine and is considered among the most esteemed image makers of our time.
BARBRANDA LUMPKINS WALLS spent thirteen years as an editor at USA Today and was managing editor at Heart & Soul, a healthy lifestyles magazine for African American women, and then programming director for AOL Black Voices.
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