The Irresistible Urge to Preach

This is a groundbreaking study in the African American religious experience. Never before has there been a published collection of oral African American ""call"" stories that treats them as a genre worthy of scholarly analysis. This volume of eighty-six stories was collected in tape-recorded interviews over a six year period from 1985 to 1991. Significantly, this unique, in-depth study represents at least eight different Christian denominations. Many of the men and women who share their ""call"" story in this volume are nationally and internationally known.