The Sexual Politics of Black Churches, edited by Josef Sorett, is an enlightening and wide ranging addition to Columbia University Press's Religion, Culture, and Public Life series.

One of the main reasons I was interested in this book is because I am always skeptical of using such a broad brush when painting any group, and far too often Blacks and Black churches are treated as a monolith, as if every person held the exact same beliefs and chose the same actions with which to act on those beliefs. I know from friends and acquaintances that this simply isn't the case. But knowing it isn't the case is different from understanding the dynamics taking place. So this volume is a step toward better understanding.

These essays are self-contained yet also represent elements of the same ongoing conversation. In arranging the book Sorett placed a discussion at the beginning and an interview at the end. So, with these examples of discourse and exchange opening and closing the book, the essays are physically in the middle of these discussions.

What probably worked best for me was the fact that this is very interdisciplinary, we are not looking at any aspect in isolation from others. One may be highlighted in one essay while another takes the stage in a different essay, but ultimately what we come away with is a better sense of the complex dynamics within Black churches, between the pulpit and the congregations, between the church and the Black community at large, and between the Black community and all of the other communities that together form our society. Whether looking at theological issues, church organization and outreach issues, political and electorate trends, we are constantly assessing the impact and influences traveling in all directions.

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in theology and religion, politics, sociology, sexuality, and gender. I would particularly recommend this to readers interested in the areas of intersection between these fields. While academic in scope this is not a dry academic read and is readily accessible to anyone with an interest. This is not just theory or concepts but those made manifest through community action.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )