Research Catalog

Title

Journeys to the spiritual lands : the natural history of a West Indian religion / Wallace W. Zane.

Author

Zane, Wallace W. (Wallace Wayne), 1964-

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

viii, 244 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• "This study offers the first detailed examination of the Spiritual Baptists or "Converted" of St. Vincent. The most distinguishing characteristic of their religion is the emphasis on spiritual travel on a regular basis for all believers. On these journeys, all are required to do spiritual work by ecstatic means on behalf of the community. This makes Converted religion a possibly unique form of shamanism.
• Yet, despite all of this, their beliefs are strictly based on a fundamentalist Christianity in which every action is justified by the Bible.".
• "Drawing on 14 months of fieldwork on the Island of St. Vincent (where the religion arose) and among Vincentian immigrants in Brooklyn, Zane's spellbinding account of his experiences and his lucid analysis of the Converted religion, its origins, and development make this book an outstanding contribution to the literature on African American and African Diaspora religion and the anthropology of religion more generally."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

Spiritual Baptists > Kingstown Region

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-233) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction. 2. A Shouting -- Pt. I. Spiritual Work. 3. Spiritual Workers. 4. Music. 5. A Banning -- Pt. II. Spiritual Experience. 6. Pilgrim Travelers. 7. Mourning -- Pt. III. Vincentian Context. 8. Work and Travel. 9. Converted Cosmology. 10. Comparative History of the Converted Religion. 11. Going to Brooklyn. 12. Conclusion. App. Converted Ritual Classifications.

ISBN

0195128451 (alk. paper)

LCCN

98030455

OCLC

• ocm39654991
• SCSB-3884890

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries