Spirituals And Religion Essay

A spiritual is a type of religious folksong that is most closely associated with the enslavement of African people in the American South.On the other hand, psalms means “praise.” Although many of the psalms are cries for help, laments over Israel, or questions about God’s plan, the major theme in all of them is worship. Even when the psalmist was crying out his questions or frustrations to the Lord, he usually ended with a call to praise God in spite of everything. Hymns have yet another meaning, they were not written under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit and are not considered part of Scripture. However, they contain much truth and often incorporate portions of Scripture. Spirituals are cast in a different light because they were used to communicate the hardships of life as a slave. Additionally, spirituals were used to communicate hidden messages about when people associated with the underground railroad were coming to free some small number of slaves. For example, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, speaks about how people are coming to free the slaves and move them to the north up to Canada. Their owners would comment on how they were in a good mood that day because they would all sing, and then the next
The spirituals offer a historical record revealing the slave's struggle for freedom and survival, and yet reflect the exciting worship experiences that expressed their hope for life's possibilities.The slave's acceptance of Christianity, while experiencing the conflicting behavior of slave owners, is a testament to the power of the gospel. Often slaves believed that the salvation and new life of which they learned when "worshipping" with their owners would happen not on earth, but, rather, when they went to heaven. While many slaves understood God's promises were meant for all people while on earth, they also knew they could not openly pray for deliverance and