Reading Groups

Faith as Force: Christianity in Black Literature with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

5 Sessions Mondays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT March 17 to June 9, 2025

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at an additional 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
3/17, 4/7, 4/28, 5/19, 6/9
Online via Zoom

In diverse and inventive ways, Black writers have grappled with the abuse of Christianity to enslave, colonize and diminish Black people, as well as its role in Black liberation movements and its central premise of salvation. In this group, we’ll read new and classic texts to explore how authors have mined this tension to create thoughtful, thought-provoking work.

In Maryse Condé’s The Gospel According to the New World, we’ll explore how Conde uses the mysterious birth of a baby rumored to be the child of God to ask probing questions about the role and meaning of a Messiah to an oppressed people. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi navigates the tension between science and faith in a family of Ghanaian immigrants. Through her narrative and characters, we’ll explore the parallels and divergences. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, highlights the space between the Black Church, White Christianity, and Blacks who find transcendence outside of this framework. We’ll explore how Walker interrogates belief, church tradition, and faith practice in the Black family and community at the heart of the novel.

In Just Above My Head, James Baldwin gives voice to the intersection between Christianity, race, and American culture in the lived experience of a Black gay man, his family and circle of friends. We’ll explore how Baldwin highlights the tensions at this intersection including homophobia. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe challenges Christianity as a tool of colonialism to diminish and demonize indigenous African belief and culture. We’ll explore how Achebe creates a narrative of a people and worldview and how they are impacted by a foreign people and worldview.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Maryse Condé’s The Gospel According to the New World

What to expect from this reading group: It will be a conversational, participant-driven course guided by instructor prompts.

Reading List:

The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Capacity: 20

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of Powder Necklace: A Novel, Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, and My Parents’ Marriage: A Novel. Learn more at nanabrewhammond.com.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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