Thursday, June 28, 2007

An anagram for Amanda Berry Smith

Amanda Berry Smith: "Mamas Tarry Behind"

"Tarrying" was the African-American (and in some circle, white) holiness word for what the "seeker" did when they were praying for entire sanctification.

The "behind" refers to a social position: as a poor black woman, Amanda had three strikes against her even before she started to tarry for her sanctification--let alone when she desired to bring the message of that experience to the larger world of America. She was "behind" before she even began. Yet begin she did, and fought through every obstacle to teach and sing the message she felt the Holy Spirit had given her.

Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 15:24:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Amanda Smith biography and article online

Folks, I've just discovered online a complete full text version of Amanda Smith's Autobiography. This is great, because the published version that's still in print costs a pretty penny:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/smitham/smith.html

Also, here is a two-part popular article on Smith:

http://www.urbana.org/wtoday.witnesses.cfm?article=48
http://www.urbana.org/wtoday.witnesses.cfm?article=49

Thanks to Erica Olson for pointing these articles out to me.
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 13:50:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Review of the biography of Amanda Berry Smith

Available here is a useful short review/book note of Adrienne Israel's biography of Amanda Berry Smith.
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 01:05:35 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Fanny Crosby & Amanda Berry Smith: The power of the powerless

What helped a disabled woman (prolific hymnwriter Fanny Crosby) and a poor black woman (Amanda Berry Smith) exert a special power over middle-class white Victorian Christians seeking spiritual leadership?

Today a friend brought to my attention this well-written critical review by Anne Blue Wills of Edith Blumhofer's recent biography of Fanny Crosby. A quick clip:

"Aided by [a] richly detailed [historical] background, Blumhofer presents compelling readings of Crosby's most famous lyrics. The deep contextualization helps Blumhofer avoid sentimentalizing the hymnwriter as the blind poetess of legend. She instead depicts Crosby as an independent-minded participant in a vibrant (and profitable) cultural phenomenon."

This review triggered in me the question in my first paragraph, above--in particular, a throwaway comment by Wills on the "curiosity factor" of Crosby's disability, suggesting that this, along with her womanhood, may have helped her gain the profile she did as a songwriter. In short, I see real similarities between Crosby and Amanda Berry Smith--and not just because they were "curiosities." For my complete response to Anne (a colleague from our days at Duke), click here:
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 17:07:27 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Who was Amanda Berry Smith?


Amanda Berry Smith (1837 - 1915): Working from below—and conquering fear—to challenge the comfortable. This "washerwoman evangelist" spent her life ministering effectively across the Big Three cultural barriers: race, class, and gender. In the Victorian moment of complacent prosperity, she broke like a sanctified thunderstorm on the vibrant but genteel holiness camp meetings of the white middle class. Her autobiography is one of the most fascinating first-person accounts you'll ever read from a Victorian-era Christian. It describes a woman who often spoke up in strange settings even when she felt unwelcome and intimidated, and knew she would be reviled and misunderstood.

Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 12:33:08 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |