Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity

Craig R. Prentiss is Professor of Religious Studies at Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri.

• Introduction: Craig R. Prentiss1 "A Servant of Servants Shall He Be": The Construction of Race in American Religious Mythologies: Paul Harvey2 Myth and African American Self-Identity: Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.3 Almost White: The Ambivalent Promise of Christian Missions among the Cherokees: Joel Martin4 Indigenous Identity and Story: The Telling of Our Part in the Sacred Homeland: Nimachia Hernandez5 Jew and Judaist, Ethnic and Religious: How They Mix in America: Jacob Neusner6 Blackness in the Nation of Islam: Aminah McCloud7 Theologizing Race: The Construction of "Christian Identity": Douglas Cowan8 "Loathsome unto Thy People": The Latter-day Saints and Racial Categorization: Craig Prentiss9 Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Heart of Mexican Identity: Roberto Goizueta10 Myths, Shinto, and Matsuri in the Shaping of Japanese Cultural Identity: John Nelson11 Islam, Arabs, and Ethnicity: Azzam Tamimi12 Cosmic Men and Fluid Exchanges: Myths of A-rya,Varn* a, and Ja-ti in the Hindu Tradition: Laurie Patton13 Religious Myth and the Construction of Shona Identity: Chirevo Kwenda14 Sacral Ruins in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mapping Ethnoreligious Nationalism: Michael Sells

"Addresses the social construction of race in a most useful way. Far too many American books on race treat race and racism as a simplistic bi-lateral Black versus White problem. This volume brings together scholars who address the concern in a much broader context from racism experienced by Native Americans and other Peoples of Color in North America to the dynamics of racialization in Africa, Japan, or Bosnia-Herzegovina. The authors give special attention to the religious factor in racialization processes, with attention, for instance, to Islam and Hindu contexts. This is an extremely insightful collection that will considerably broaden the discussion about race and ethnicity; it will prove useful in the classroom for years to come." - George E. Tink Tinker (Osage),Iliff School of Theology "The essays in this volume make a significant contribution to the scholarship on the interrelationships among religion and race and ethnicity." (Choice) "This book intends to speak to a general audience, and . . . it succeeds very well." (Multicultural Review)