Home Away from Home: The Caribbean Diasporan Church in the Black Atlantic Tradition (Cross Cultural Theologies)

Home Away from Home explores how Caribbean diasporan people understand themselves in light of their faith in Jesus Christ. Taking the Caribbean diasporan experience as a source for theological discourse, the book argues that the faith Caribbean people brought with them into the diaspora plays a central role in their development. The study identifies three forms of Caribbean diasporan identity, provides a theological interpretation of the diasporan experience, delineates the foundational theological principles, traces the patterns of and proposes the distinctives of the Caribbean diasporan church and thus, offers a Caribbean diasporan ecclesiology. As the title suggests, this book, while focusing on the Caribbean diaspora in the American context, incorporates aspects of the Caribbean British diaspora and is thereby located in the Black Atlantic tradition. Being in this tradition, a Caribbean diasporan theology seeks to forge a Black Atlantic theology which both engages a wider and more inclusive theological discourse on the Black diaspora and connects the diaspora through faith and gives theological voice to the Black Atlantic Caribbean diasporan experience. In this regard, Home Away from Home de-African Americanizes Black Christian religion and theology and also de-Europeanizes Euro-American Christian religion and theology and therefore, marks a significant milestone in the development of Caribbean diasporan theological scholarship.