A Double Standard about Worship? African-American Worship and Caucasian Pentecostal Worship

Last updated on: October 4, 2016 at 7:38 am by Roger E. Olson

A Double Standard about Worship? African-American Worship and Caucasian Pentecostal Worship 2016-10-04T07:38:27-05:00 Roger E. Olson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As usual, before I get into my “musings,” I must define my terms. Here I am using “worship” in the specific sense of “what goes on in church on Sunday morning and other gatherings for praise to and adoration of God.” Here I am not talking about the kind of “all Christian life is worship” idea. I’m setting that aside for the moment. (I happen to agree with Nicholas Wolterstorff in his most recent book The God We Worship [Eerdmans, 2015] that the “all Christian life is worship” tends to thin “worship” to the point of vanishing, but that is not related to my point here.) Here—in what follows—I am talking about specific Christian gatherings where people come together intentionally to praise and adore God. Other things usually happen in such meetings, but the heart, the center, of worship, as I mean it here, is praise to and adoration of God—especially in Christian gatherings for that primary purpose.

By “African-American worship” I refer to the typical pattern of such worship found in most American “black churches.” Of course there are exceptions; here I am talking about the typical and traditional as opposed to the exceptions. (For example, some black churches have intentionally adopted liturgical styles of worship that are carefully scripted, but that is not, I believe, the norm.)

By “Caucasian Pentecostal worship” I refer to the typical pattern of such worship found in most traditional, classical and neo-Pentecostal churches in America. Again, there are many exceptions where Pentecostal and other “renewalist” churches have adopted “contemporary worship” that is not traditional. Some have even adopted scripted liturgies, but those are not what I mean here by “Caucasian Pentecostal worship.”

One more clarification to “head off” objections: Yes, to be sure, many Pentecostal and black churches have integrated and blended their worship styles together. But that actually helps my point. Read on….

Traditional African-American worship tends to be “revivalistic” in style and is normally conducted without the use of traditional scripted liturgies. Of course the worship leaders come to the worship service prepared, but normally there is intentional openness to “the moving of the Spirit” on the leaders and congregants with some degree of spontaneity allowed if not actually expected.

My experience among mostly Caucasian Christian academics for almost forty years is that they, we, tend to valorize African-American non-liturgical, planned but spontaneous, often very emotional worship while disparaging Caucasian revivalist worship that is very similar to African-American worship as somehow bad. Let me put into words what I think many Christian academics think: African-American revivalist, non-liturgical, emotional worship is authentic while Caucasian revivalist, non-liturgical, emotional worship is inauthentic.

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the “Note to commenters” at its end.*

I find it difficult to “pin down” the difference that makes traditional African-American worship authentic but Caucasian revivalist, Pentecostal-style worship inauthentic.

I am reading a book about worship by a well-known, influential American Christian philosopher-theologian (yes, he’s both). The book is about liturgy—especially the so-called “rich, traditional liturgies” of the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and mainline Protestant (Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed) churches. These are contrasted with “Pentecostal worship” as superior to it. Although he does not say it outright, I am quite sure he means Caucasian Pentecostal worship. If there was any hint that he meant to include traditional African-American worship as inferior he would probably open himself up to some pretty harsh criticism by his fellow Christian academics.

My point here is not to disparage scripted liturgical styles of worship (e.g., use of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer). Nor is it to promote non-liturgical styles of worship such as one often, normally, finds in African-American worship and Caucasian Pentecostal and other revivalist worship. My one and only point here is to raise a question about what I perceive to be a double standard especially among American Christian academics with regard to worship.

So, let me offer an illustration from my own experience. Some years ago I eagerly attended a chapel service at a well-known evangelical Christian liberal arts college. I knew beforehand that the “special guest” in this chapel would be a locally well-known African-American male vocalist singing “black spirituals.” It was truly amazing; he was extremely talented. In this mostly Caucasian-attended chapel he did not hold back; he sang loudly and fast and all songs the audience would probably associate with African-American worship. One that I especially remember was “I Am on the Battlefield for My Lord.” It was all I could do to stay seated. Having grown up Pentecostal “the Spirit came on me” and I wanted to stand and raise my hands in the air and look up to heaven and praise God along with the vocalist. (By the way, nobody did that.) The response to each song was enthusiastic clapping. I could tell just by looking around especially at the professors and administrators that this performance was well-received. (Ironically, some of them, I knew, wanted to expunge from our own evangelical hymnals all references to war—including spiritual warfare hymns!)

Now, I can’t read the hearts or minds of those academics, but I can predict that if the vocalist had been Caucasian and sang well with the same style the same songs he or she would not have been as well received. In fact, he or she would not have been invited in the first place.

Over the many years I’ve been involved in American Christian higher education, with some exceptions, I have had to “live down” having grown up Pentecostal (or just revivalist). I have had to hide my revivalist preferences for worship. When I have expressed it I have often received strange looks and felt a certain coldness in the response (even among Baptists). On the other hand, in my opinion, based on my experiences, an African-American who prefers the same style of worship that I do—non-liturgical, revivalistic–never gets that same response.

Now, I predict that someone will say “Well, that double standard of which you speak is because Caucasian revivalist, Pentecostal-style, emotional, non-liturgical worship is not as authentic as traditional African-American worship.” Really? What is the litmus test being used for discerning the difference? I am quite sure that my preferred style of worship (non-scripted, somewhat spontaneous, moderately emotional) is not borrowed from African-American worship. It goes back a very long way—back to the Second Great Awakening if not the first Great Awakening.

To those who argue that scripted liturgy is superior (such as the author I am reading right now) I point out that in 1 Corinthians 14 the Apostle Paul gave a pattern for Christian worship that included everyone participating with his or her own contribution. To try to fit scripted liturgy into Paul’s prescription for early Christian worship in verse 26 is a stretch, to say the least.

So to those American Christian advocates of scripted liturgy as superior to “Pentecostal worship” I ask “What about African-American worship?” Do you include it in your snobbish put-downs of non-liturgical, revivalist style worship? Somehow I doubt it.

*Note to commenters: This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment solely to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and “on topic.” Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger’s (or guest writers’) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 30, 2016

Recommended Reading: Washington Post Essay by Christian Conservative Erick Erickson Re: Donald Trump

Next Post

October 7, 2016 Reflections about Billy Graham...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Against Liberal Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct sequence of events in the End Times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, false prophet rises from earth, mark of the beast given False prophet rises, dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, mark of the beast given Mark of the beast given, dragon cast to earth, beast rises, false prophet rises Beast rises from sea, dragon cast to earth, mark of the beast given, false prophet rises