The Lost Gospel: Christianity and Blacks in North America
Author: Jerome Teelucksingh
Date Of Publication: Jan 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1635-9
Isbn: 1-4438-1635-3
Religion was a key factor facilitating integration, assimilation, adaptation and acculturation among the United States Blacks in Canada during the 19th century. The Wesleyans, Methodists, British Methodists Episcopalians, Baptists and Presbyterians were some of the Protestant denominations instrumental in forging a foundation for the transition to freedom. Protestant churches played a crucial role as Blacks struggled to adapt to their new host society.

An interesting phenomenon that emerged in this research is the similarities and links with Black churches in the United States. There was considerable communication between Blacks and Whites which overshadowed the racial problems in society.

The main areas of this study dwell on the church’s role in education, development of Black leadership, assimilation and independence of Black churches. These themes are used in reconstructing and investigating the socio-religious encounter between Blacks, from the United States and Protestants who belonged mainly to the White churches in Upper Canada. There is also a focus on the educational nature and extent of the relationship of the Protestant church and Blacks. The relationship between Blacks and churches revealed the pre-occupation with education which became the guiding concept in the lives of Blacks.

Jerome Teelucksingh is Lecturer in the Department of History at The University of the West Indies in Trinidad. His recent books are Builders of the Caribbean and Caribbean-Flavoured Presbyterianism. Some recent articles are “The ‘Invisible Child’ in British West Indian Slavery” and “The US Media and Gender Relations in the Caribbean.”

“Jerome Teelucksingh has written a well-argued and well-researched analysis of the evolution of church leadership among the Upper Canadian Black community. He does a particularly good job in delineating the tensions and dynamics within white churches that simultaneously supported and advanced black education but also restricted and separated black church members through segregated pews and burial plots. Historians working in early Canadian history or Black Studies will find this an important book.”

—Professor Richard M. Reid, Department of History, University of Guelph, Canada

Author of Freedom for Themselves: North Carolina’s Black Soldiers in the Civil War Era

“Jerome Teelucksingh’s The Lost Gospel: Christianity and Blacks in North America, seeks to enlighten readers as to the development of the Black Church in Canada. By exploring black and white participation, cooperation, and leadership roles in the Black Church, Teelucksingh informs readers of the continual education, assimilation, and independence process of blacks in Canada, as well as the emotional, racial, and religious obstacles they encountered and surmounted as they endeavored to reinvigorate their spirituality in light of physical freedom from slavery. While detailing the cooperation and assistance of the white Protestant churches, Teelucksingh concentrates on the leadership of blacks themselves, showing the striving of the black community to grow independently of white control. The Lost Gospel thus illustrates the entwining of white and black in both spiritual and material matters.”

—Professor Sharon Roger Hepburn, Department of History, Radford University, Virginia, United States.

"I have enjoyed perusing the pages of this book.

I have come accross several books that document the historical development of Black Christianity in the United States, but not any that documents Black Church history in Canada. It is therefore safe to say that this is a pioneering contribution on the subject of Black Protestant Churches in Canada.

..I therefore commend this book to anyone interested in Diaspora or immigration studies. It is also commendable to anyone interested in Black history in another place than Africa, Caribean r United States."

Rev Israel Olofinjana, Crofton Park Baptist Church, London

Price Uk Gbp: 34.99
Price Us Usd: 52.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)