Righteous Content

An ethnographic study of African American women’s religious lives despite predominant male church leadership.

“Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black womens religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined.” ―The North Star

Enter most African American congregations and you are likely to see the century-old pattern of a predominantly female audience led by a male pastor. How do we explain the dedication of African American women to the church, particularly when the church’s regard for women has been questioned?

Following in the footsteps of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham’s pathbreaking work, Righteous Discontent, Daphne Wiggins takes a contemporary look at the religiosity of black women. Her ethnographic work explores what is behind black women's intense loyalty to the church, bringing to the fore the voices of the female membership of black churches as few have done. Wiggins illuminates the spiritual sustenance the church provides black women, uncovers their critical assessment of the church’s ministry, and interprets the consequences of their limited collective activism.

Wiggins paints a vivid portrait of what lived religion is like in black women’s lives today.

“Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women’s theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew.” —Marcia Y. Riggs,J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, Columbia Theological Seminary