Reviving the Black Church offers a robust biblical and theological exposition of how dead black churches can be made alive in Christ by the power of the Spirit and the preached Word, just like those dry bones in Ezekiel 37. But Reviving the Black Church isn’t just for the black church. Pastors and church leaders from a variety of ethnic stripes can benefit from it.

Thabiti Anyabwile. Reviving The Black Church: A Call to Reclaim a Sacred Institution. Nashville, TN: B&H, 2015. 269 pp. $15.99.

Whenever I (Curtis) read a work on the black church, I immediately become protective of my ecclesiological tradition. This didn’t happen, though, as I read Thabiti Anyabwile’s new book Reviving the Black Church: A Call to Reclaim a Sacred Institution. As a participant-observer of the black church tradition, he understands the real problems it faces. Even with pointed concerns and criticisms Anyabwile—TGC Council member and pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C.—writes as one who loves the bride of Christ.

Anyabwile argues that there’s a better way forward for the black church than what’s historically been the case. For him, this better way forward borrows from the wisdom of “earlier faithful Christians” and is outlined for us in God’s Word. 

Basic Structure

Reviving the Black Church has three major sections with 13 chapters. In section 1 Anyabwile provides a historical survey of the role of Scripture in black churches, a theological defense of the importance of biblical preaching, and an exploration of the importance of worship according to Scripture (15–82). These pages express the need to make the Bible the centerpiece of every aspect of black church life—from the prayers to the preaching and teaching to the congregational worship.

Section 2 covers leadership in the black church, which is often imbalanced with too much power residing in one pastor (97–114). Anyabwile also contends the black church has often misunderstood pastoral authority by creating unbiblical offices of authority (115–136) or appointing unqualified persons to serve in leadership (137–153).

In section 3 Anyabwile argues that the black church should pursue revival through a biblical understanding of membership and mission (173–245). He challenges the black church to rekindle personal piety and discipleship (173–188); to prioritize a biblical understanding of regenerate church membership (189–208); to help black men grasp a biblical view of manhood (209–226); and to reengage in missions (227–245).

Clear and Intelligent Work

Anyabwile acknowledges the unspoken “cultural rules forbidding public critique of the black church” (12). As such, this published assessment of the black church will invariably solicit scorn from some quarters. I’d encourage those tempted to dismiss Anyabwile’s concerns, though, to withhold judgment until they’ve thoughtfully engaged the book.

Anyabwile’s thesis is clear: “The only force capable of reviving the black church in whatever area she needs is the Spirit of God animating the Word of God” (247). He examines various sectors of the black church in antebellum North and South; explains how white supremacy gave rise to the black church in early American history; and distills decades of African diasporic dehumanization from the era of the transatlantic slave trade to the present day. In so doing, Anyabwile invokes the expertise and kaleidoscope of African American scholars, which is one of the book’s greatest strengths. He solicits counsel from black liberation theologians, including womanist intellectuals, along with faithful African American evangelical witnesses.

Such exchanges between opposing theological camps often succumb to theological syncretism. Anyabwile avoids this blunder. Readers will sense a non-threatening dialectical conversation between black evangelicals and liberationists throughout the work. To Anyabwile’s credit, he marshals primary and secondary works in African American religious thought from individuals, categorically speaking, who span the spectrum: Reformed and Arminian African diasporic abolitionist intellectuals, evangelicals, liberationists, and prosperity preachers. Anyabwile doesn’t venerate or vilify any camp. For example, he illustrates how evangelicals, liberationists, and prosperity adherents all “contributed to the de-centering of the Bible”:

Evangelicals have allowed [Scripture] to be de-centered through neglect, failing to read it and apply it to life and faith. Liberationists have reveled against it, actually calling for its removal from the dominant place in theology and religion. And prosperity preachers have removed it from the center by misusing and misquoting it, using biblicism that sounds evangelical while focusing on worldly materialism and success. (25)

Sometimes we evangelicals have a hard time rendering self-critique, though we must. Anyabwile offers a helpful example.

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