“We Are Doing Everything That Our Resources Will Allow”: The Black Church and Foundation Philanthropy, 1959-1979

Contemporary wealth inequality has prompted a renewed and increased interest in the role that external funding plays in civil society. While observers frequently consider how big philanthropy influences education, politics, and social services, few historical treatments of the postwar era have addre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Byers, Philip D. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2018]
In: Religions
Further subjects:B Seabury Consultation
B Black Christianity
B seminary education
B Civil Rights
B Philanthropy
B Lilly Endowment
B Virginia Union University
B Inc
B National Council of Churches
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Contemporary wealth inequality has prompted a renewed and increased interest in the role that external funding plays in civil society. While observers frequently consider how big philanthropy influences education, politics, and social services, few historical treatments of the postwar era have addressed the interaction between foundation philanthropy and American religion. Black Christianity stands as one clear example of this oversight. Numerous studies of black life in the twentieth-century have engaged the tensions between internal prerogatives and external influences without applying those questions to black churches. This article begins that exploration by focusing on Lilly Endowment, Inc.—the most consistent twentieth-century source of foundation support for religion—and analyzing its interactions with a series of summer seminars for black ministers hosted at Virginia Union University. Though contextual changes in the latter twentieth century altered the nature of Lilly Endowment's relationship with its recipients, two decades of collaboration reveal how black Christians exerted substantial influence over the trajectory of Lilly Endowment's growing program in religious giving.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel9080234