The West Virginia University Department of English in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences ishosting its 2007 Summer Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies.

The seminar,The Lords Battle I Mean to Fight: The Politics of African American Piety,got under way Thursday evening (June 7) with a free public lecture in Elizabeth Moore Hall.

Registrationwas required for other parts of the seminar, including five, two-hour sessions in Stalnaker Hall. The event concludes at noon Sunday (June 10). The seminar is being hosted by Dr. John Ernest, Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of American Literature at WVU , and led by Dr. Joycelyn K. Moody, who is the editor-in-chief of African American Review and an associate professor of English at Saint Louis University.

The seminaris examining the roles and practices of Christianity as alived religionin African-American life, literature and cultures from the late 18th century to the present. Participantsare studying African-American representations and uses of Christian doctrine.

Our seminar at WVU is important because there is significant interest in African American culture, history and scholarship,Ernest said.Its a reminder that WVU plays a prominent role nationally in these conversations.

Seminar leadersare paying particular attention to rhetorical strategies that black Americans have deployed to articulate and affirm their humanity, to assert their intelligence and birth rights and to improvise creative spiritual negotiations of power in a complex, secular society. Selected texts explore a range of iconic black Christians, from Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth to T. D. Jakes and Juanita Bynum. These textsare facilitating studies of African-Americanstropes of sacrifice, emancipation and salvation in representations of the pursuit of everyday peace, social justice and human rights.

Seminar participantsare tracing historical shifts in black Americanssacred and sociopolitical values across the 19th century and also theorizing the functions of Christianity in the lives of African-Americans today. The seminars placement of African-American women at the center of its inquiryis illuminating intersections of sex and gender power dynamics with religion in a race-conscious, sex-negative society.

In addition, the seminaris considering the role of the contemporary African Americanists whose scholarship engages issues of black Christianity and whose work often entails a struggle to be taken seriously in a sometimes cynical academy. The seminar is open to students and faculty throughout the United States.

WVU is located in scenic north central West Virginia about 75 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pa. and 200 miles west of Washington, D.C. Rooms for seminar attendees are available in Stalnaker Hall. Built in 1919 and renovated in 1993, the residence hall is on the National Historic Register. The hall features suites of two double rooms with a common bathroom, as well as classroom space for the seminar. One local hotel is within walking distance for those who prefer non-dormitory housing.

For more information, contact Ernest at John.Ernest@mail.wvu.edu or visithttp://english.wvu.edu/about_the_department/summer_seminar.