Black Sacred Music as Spiritual Practice
Rev. Dr. Donald H. Matthews, PhD.
Black Religion is noted for its narrative character. This narrative character is found most profoundly in it music. It is no mistake that Howard Thurman, the most well known of African American Spiritual Masters experienced, researched and wrote about the “Negro” Spiritual. Scholars like W. E. B. Du Bois. Zora Neale Hurston and James Cone based their interpretation of Black Religion as it was found in the Black music of the Spirituals, Blues and Gospel music. This course will seek to help the student gain a deeper understanding of the ways that this music informs the spiritual practice of Black individuals and communities in their quest for Spiritual Wholeness. In engaging the fundamental expressions of this faith through its musical recordings, the written text, in discussion and in meditation, the student will gain a lived experience of its spiritual depth.
