Breath of Life: Black Spirituality in Everyday Life

Dear Colleagues,

Decades ago, Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) introduced the Black Sacred Cosmos as “the religious worldview of African Americans” which “informs ways of knowing, [and] ways of apprehending and managing reality” (1999: 32). Furthermore, the knowledge stored within this “Sacred Cosmos” collectively organizes Black Americans “expressive behavior” and their ways of viewing and understanding the world. Coupled with Charles Long’s (1986) expression of significations as the power of collective social and spiritual experience to organize and move Black peoples’ actions and survival worldwide, the Black spiritual experience is linked to a larger shared existence amongst the African diaspora which transcends a variety of religious denominations and nationalities and guides their decisions and movement in places both sacred and secular. Yet, there is still much room for exploration and articulation of the material and practical ways the corpus of the Black Sacred Cosmos has and continues to materialize in the real world for contemporary members of the Africana world.

This Special Issue aims to articulate Black peoples’ formal and informal social processes of taking what we are terming a “Black Sacred Consciousness”—a compendium of understandings and strategies informed by Black religious and spiritual history—to sustain, empower, and protect Black life in every facet of their lives from their homes, daily commutes, and jobs to their communities and creative, social, and political activities. We seek to explore how Black people use the power and ancestral legacy of the Black Sacred Cosmos to not only fight and survive a multitude of classist, racist, and sexist ills, but also how they use this collective consciousness to empower, self-realize, and to thrive as a people—both individually and collectively.

Taking its name from the Judeo-Christian story of the creation of man, this Special Issue looks to document and theorize the power of Black sacred consciousness (BSC) to sustain, empower, and protect Black life.

In this Special Issue, original research articles, theoretical contributions, and reviews are welcome. The Guest Editors welcome submissions from diverse perspectives not limited to Judeo-Christian traditions or American faith practices and research areas may include, but are not limited to:

• The employment of Black faith practices and artifacts of faith (such as songs, mottos, etc..) in secular places such as the work, home, or community spaces;
• Expansions and/or reflections on the concept of “Significations” and/or “the Black Sacred Cosmos” and its relevance in Black secular life contemporarily;
• The future of and/or new directions for the engagement of secular and spiritual practices and rituals in Black life;
• The organizing power of the Black Sacred Cosmos to connect a variety of African and Pan-African-informed spiritual traditions. 

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editors or to the Assistant Editor Sandee Pan ([email protected]) of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Brianne Painia
Dr. Lori Latrice Martin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• employment of Black faith practices
• expansions and/or reflections
• Black secular life
• spiritual practices and rituals in Black life
• African and Pan-African-informed spiritual traditions