The Function Of Praise Songs In African-american Worship

The praise song is integral to worship in the black tradition, expressing Spirit-filled praise and demanding the full participation of the worshiping community. Black praise singing is also expressive of themes important in black Christian experience and in the theology that has been formed out of this experience. Black religious music and black theology are correlative in meaning. From the beginning, black music has sprung from black theology as a meaningful and life-affirming medium in black experience. This article intends to take a brief look at this interplay between music and theology as revealed in the black Pentecostal praise song. Luther Gerlach and Virginia Hine have studied Pentecostalism as a mode of social transformation involving a seven-step commitment process required to recruit, convert, and maintain members. The two steps most germane to the Pentecostal praise song are the original commitment event and the orientation process that features group support for modifi…