The informative material approached in this book mirrors an expanding intrigue of African-American history; particularly in the religious expression. Defends the African American’s religious life within their community as an important realm of the overall religious history in the South and the equally important aspect of today’s religious expressions. Insists that if one wanted to know the south, then they must know it 's religious life; generally speaking, students of Southern studies should recognize this Idea. Adds that in the South religious expression was a topic of curiosity or even ridicule, with attention focused on the more extreme aspects of folk religion among those who were illiterate and somewhat cordoned off from major communities. …show more content…
Confirms Samuel S. Hill’s evaluation that Southern observers “can do no less than acknowledge the reality of religion and it 's formative influence." Examines the increased amount of intellectual projects addressing the role of religion: the elevated status that religion has in the South and the rapidity of those developments in those studies as being “a serious and maturing academic field”; the validation of religion as an essential component, as a whole, to Southern life; religion cannot be a detached theme that can be segregated from all the other characteristics of Southern