A Fire in the Bones is a fascinating and moving collection of essays from one of America's most prominent scholars of religious history. In his first book since the classic, Slave Religion, Albert Raboteau shows how the active faith of African-Americans shaped their religious institutions and forged the struggle for social justice throughout their history.

Covering many traditions - Baptist revivals, the AME Church, Black Catholics, African orisa religions - Raboteau reveals the pervasive faith of African-Americans that God was an actor in their history. This faith has enabled them to challenge America's self-image as "The Promised Land" and to fight the institutions of racism.