“Is it Not the Communion of the Body of Christ?”

Abstract

Baptists, white and black, have historically devoted little attention to the Lord's Supper. In recent years some white Baptists articulated their understandings in light of ecumenical trends, retaining or modifying in varying degrees a “traditional view” that is non-sacramental, individualistic, and memorialist. There has not been a corresponding consideration of the theology of the Supper found among African American Baptists. This essay begins this conversation. After tracing the development of the “traditional” Baptist account of the Supper and the recent, broader engagement, attention is turned to African American understandings. This witness is distilled from sermons, theological writings, and the practices of black Baptist congregations. These provide greater emphasis in the Supper on community and incarnation, rooted in a theology of the cross.