美国内战前黑人宗教文化刍议

On African-American Religion in Antebellum America

在奴隶制下 ,白人试图将基督教作为对黑人进行精神奴役的工具 ,而黑人则对基督教进行了改造 ,并将其与非洲传统的宗教相结合 ,创造了属于自己的精神世界 ,从而发展了独具特色的黑人宗教文化。宗教是黑人文化的重要组成部分 ,也是黑人在奴隶制下得以生存的重要手段。

During the antebellum years,the American whites attempted to utilize Christianity as a tool of spiritual slavery against the black slaves,whereas the black people adapted white religion to their own needs and combined it with traditional African beliefs,and thereby developed a unique African-American religious culture and a spiritual world of their own. Black religion is an essential component of black culture as well as a means of survival in slavery.