Black History Stuff: "Gospel Music Today" by Obrey M. Hedricks Jr.

As an example of divine cross-pollination, the Book of Exodus is especially germane to this month’s focus on Black History. “Let my people go,” urged Moses.  I just acquired Vol. 22 of The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, published in 2000. It contains a long article entitled “Gospel Music Today.” The author, Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. , writes that the genre commonly called “Gospel” (referring specifically to it’s African American manifestation) represents a step backwards from the more socially and politically engaged genre known as “Spiritual.” He ties this shift from the temporal to the purely spiritual into the relocation of African Americans from the relatively salubrious countryside to the less nourishing environs of the cities. Gospel music distances the listener from the harsh urban world, transferring the listener’s thoughts to better places.  The author feels that life was better “back on the farm.” The author quotes B.B. King, who viewed his hardworking youth in the Mississippi Delta as a positive influence.

Dr. Hendricks (his PhD is from Princeton) describes the eschatology of “Gospel” to be Apocalyptic. It also denotes a shift in emphasis from the “collective” to the “individual.” The political engagement displayed by prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, evident in Spirituals (and scriptural citations by Dr. King) is not generally a part of the Gospel canon. There are exceptions. Charles Albert Tindley (creator of a Berean favorite, “Bye and Bye,” a classic no longer under copyright) being a good example. Tindley was a champion of the downtrodden.

Reverend Doctor Charles Albert Tindley. He was injured in a protest against the D,W. Griffith movie “Birth of a Nation.”

Charles Tindley wrote a song called “I’ll Overcome Someday,” which is believed to be the progenitor of the famous Civil Rights anthem. The anthem was slowed to a march in 1947 at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, an establishment beleaguered by anti-communist forces, even though they were not communists. Some of the lyrics Charles Tindley wrote are below (the meter seems similar to that of “Bye and Bye,” his, and “I Am On the Battlefield for the Lord,” not his):

This world is one great battlefield
 With forces all arrayed,
If in my heart I do not yield
I’ll overcome some day.
I’ll overcome some day,
I’ll overcome some day,
If in my heart I do not yield,
I’ll overcome some day.

The article derides instances of “clowning” by Gospel music performers, but this criticism comes across as being perhaps a “pet peeve” of the scholar. Instances of “clowning” that I have witnessed are harmless interludes that are free from malicious intent. I refer to occasionally “exaggerated” enunciation, a mild form of comic relief.

Dr. Hendricks laments the disengaged nature of contemporary church music. My long essay on the roots of Marxism noted the prevalence of this worldview among academics, but I am sure that Dr. Hendricks is no Marxist. He would simply like for the improvements initiated by the civil rights struggle to continue to develop. I am not at all qualified to comment on this topic, as my eye is directed (as is the music Dr. Hendricks dislikes) not to this earth so much, as it is to heaven. The great advances of the fifties and sixties are now becalmed by the “law of diminishing returns.” Political and institutional gains are fairly well consolidated, but the biggest remaining enemy is the irrational personal animosity of selected bigots. These enemies cannot be overcome politically. The offenders must be dealt with one by one. They must be led to Jesus. There will remain, until the end of the age, a number who will refuse to be led to Jesus. When you get to heaven, you will no longer be obliged to suffer the company of these kind of people, as they will not be there.

Acts 10:26: “But Peter made him get up. ‘Stand up,’ he said, “I am only a man myself.” (NIV) This mosaic is in St. Peter’s, Rome. Mosaics wear better than paintings. The man depicted will not be your judge.