The Black Churches of Brooklyn

This is an informative though not comprehensive study of black churches. Taylor, who teaches history at LeMoyne College in upstate New York, focuses on Brooklyn because by mid-century, ``many of [its] churches had thousands of members, offered a variety of social services to the black community, were important cultural centers, and had nationally renowned pastors.'' He traces the values, theology and public profile of the late 19th-century churches, noting that while African Methodist and Baptist denominations were initially dominant, by the mid-20th century, Holiness-Pentecostal became the fastest-growing. He charges black ministers in Bedford-Stuyvesant, tied to the major political parties, with doing too little to stem the neighborhood's deterioration in the 1960s, a topic Taylor might have probed further. He also devotes a chapter to the role of black women in the church and concludes with brief sketches of six politically active ministers, including the Reverend Al Sharpton. (Nov.)