Abstract
Williams’ article, a highly significant theoretical contribution regarding the complex nature of the phenomenon of black worship, fills a lacuna in the literature about the subject. It challenges us to rethink our theological, as well as our social science, presuppositions about worship behavior. As of yet few studies have been done on the subject. A recent article by Professor Trulear, a Sociologist of Religion, carefully assesses the meanings behind the idiomatic expressions invoked in the worship ritual of the black church. His approach ought be looked at in relation to what Williams has done. Williams, as a philosopher of religion, is concerned that we understand that worship, even black worship, is inclusive of more than a Christian view of reality. It must be construed as “embodying something more than the one-dimensional posture of admiration, honor, devotion, or idolization tendered a divine being.” Such an understanding of worship explains why Williams would adopt the theoretical method of an anthropologist rather than a Christian theologian. For this reason he chose the theoretical method of the anthropologist Victor Turner. The latter’s method importantly appreciates the interconnective relationship between ritual behavior and symbolism. He clearly shows, in his paper, that symbols “may well reflect not the structure and anti-structure, and not only ‘reflect’ but can contribute to creating it.”