Abstract
The phenomenon of Christian spiritual healing as a natural quality of African-American spirituality is the essence of this essay. This spirituality is given prominence in Archie Smith’s Navigating the Deep River: Spirituality in African American Families. Smith’s treatise “is about remaining hopeful.” His central metaphor is the well-established imagery in African-American culture of the river (or water). Such insight is evidenced when referring to Africans’ survival in
the “diaspora,” especially North America. Scholars in African-American studies, especially in theology, biblical studies, and history have used this imagery: Cain Hope Felder, Troubling Biblical WatersVincent Harding, There Is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America; Howard Thurman’s A Track to the Water’s Edge; and his mystical reflections in Deep River and the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death.