Preaching Revolution: A Cleageian Homiletic

Abstract

This dissertation brings Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr. into conversation with the field of homiletics. Cleage published a book of sermons in 1968 titled The Black Messiah. The sermons in The Black Messiah were offered as a guide to help Black people rediscover Jesus as a revolutionary Black Messiah. Additionally, these sermons were presented as a model for other preachers who frequently preached to Black people. The Black Messiah was an infrastructure for Cleage’s Black theological project, presented in homiletical form. The problem that this dissertation addresses is that there has been no substantive attention given to Cleage in the field of homiletics. The methodologies employed in this study are phenomenological analysis and biographical criticism. Phenomenological analysis allows Cleage’s preaching, theology, and praxis to be examined as its own religious phenomenon. Biographical criticism highlights the importance of the life experiences, religious, and social contexts that resulted in the formation of Albert B. Cleage, Jr. This study has shown that Cleage fills a lacuna in the field of homiletics. Serious critical engagement with Cleage’s preaching, theology, and praxis points the field of homiletics, as well as Black theology and Black church studies, towards generative possibilities.