Specters of Subjugation: A Sociotheological Exploration of Religious and Spiritual Violence within Black Church

Despite expanding the theological frameworks of embodiment, sexuality, and incarnation, the reality is that the inner logic of particular Black Church spaces requires or invites communal violence as a conduit to receive the work of God’s action in the world. Stemming from a broader exploration of the impact of exposure to religious violence on African American Millennials and Generation Z in Black Church spaces, this paper attempts to explore the sociopolitical and theological implications of practices of violence within the ecclesiology of the Black Church. Using results from a digital ethnographic analysis and interviews from Black gender and sexual minorities who experienced religious violence and trauma within Black Church contexts, this paper seeks to explore how explorations of Black ecclesiology must engage in trauma-informed and healing-centered theoethics to stop the occurrence of religious and spiritual violence within the Black Church spaces, specifically with Black gender and sexual minorities.