Dread and Pentecostal: A Political Theology for the Black Church in Britain

In this authoritative and passionately argued book, Robert Beckford explores the future of Black British Pentecostalism in a society where the notion of White supremacy--even in faith--is all too evident. Drawing on Black, womanist, and post-colonial theologies of liberation, he urges the Black Church to regain its traditional prophetic role as part of its ministry. He suggests that the Caribbean's first liberation theology, Rastafari, has much to offer all Christians concerned with speaking prophetically into social and political life in Britain. Reflecting on aspects of Rastafari, Black Pentecostalism and the meaning of Jesus in the world today, he develops a new model for a Black political faith--a Dread Pentecostal theology. Dr. Robert Beckford is an educator, author, and award-winning broadcaster. An educator for most of his life, he first taught adult literacy at Bournville College in Birmingham in the early 1990s and progressed to become the first-ever tutor in Black Theology at Queens College, Birmingham (1992-1998), where he taught trainee priests and ministers for the Anglican and Methodist churches.