When Moses entreated Pharoah to let his people go the children of Israel were aware of differences between themselves and others in the land. The ensuing drama which included some stern “supernatural” interventions finally convinced Pharaoh that here indeed was a group of people that was different and not about to become a constituent of the core culture. The theme of “stranger and pilgrim” became a motif for the Jewish people; later a prophet named Jesus and his followers recognized themselves as strangers and pilgrims and experienced considerable hostility at the hands of the dominant society.

To begin missionary activity in India was not a simple matter. The missionaries there had to face a great deal of opposition not encountered by the missionaries to the South Seas and Africa. In the latter areas the really serious difficulties did not arise until the mission fields had actually been entered. In the case of the Indian missions the missionaries found the first line of osbtruction in England itself, in the London offices of the East India Company. The Company was resolutely opposed to the introduction of missionaries into its own territories, or into any part of India.

These lines might well have been written by a denizen of the contemporary counter culture, though he might have respected “Divinity” only by eliminating it for “Government.” The lines can suggest various things. First, that there is an analogy to be made between the Renaissance and the contemporary world. Secondly, that a rejection of conventional learning—we discuss it under the rubric of irrelevance—can be a prelude to a revival of the occult. Thirdly, the utilization of this text can intimate that, for present purposes, the author may owe more to Herodotus than he does to Ranke, that is, more to history as art than to history as science. That, too, may be a sign of the times.

My subject is the religion of the black American and my thesis is twofold: that the black man's religion is a religion of soul and that the soul of the black man's religion is his music. My concentration is on the spirituals. The paragraphs that follow are in part an abstract of my paper and in part a bibliographical essay indicating some studies or interpretations on which I draw or to which I am indebted.

What passes in the world for life and health, is nevertheless a palpable counterfeit. It is at best but a long disease, having sooner or later the same inevitable ghastly termination, death.

Forget all past history as forming a standard of hope and expectations.… We must doggedly reject the inferences of past experience.… There is no fanaticism in this position; because in respect to the circumstances which make and govern experience, the world has nothing in common with us.

The Ranter counter culture was a phenomenon of Puritan England. It was a movement among lower-class people numbering several thousands—we do not know exactly how many—widely distributed in London and rural England. In describing this phenomenon as a movement, however, one must be cautious since this was not a movement towards a goal: it was a movement of repulsion away from English society as represented by the Puritans. It implied a rejection of the Puritan Establishment—its ethics, its values, and its goals.