cover image 9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to an American Tragedy

9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to an American Tragedy

. Judson Press, $16 (177pp) ISBN 978-0-8170-1435-3

""In times of terror, the African American pulpit has spoken with its clearest voice,"" writes Martha Simmons, co-editor (with Frank A. Thomas) of 9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to an American Tragedy. Say ""amen,"" somebody. This collection is everything that most other books on September 11 have tried to be but failed: cogent, piercing, inspirational, gritty. It includes sermons and essays by Gardner Taylor, T.D. Jakes, Delores Carpenter, Jesse Jackson and Calvin Butts III, among others. One essay in particular deserves mention: Peter Gomes's ""Outer Turmoil, Inner Strength,"" delivered at Harvard University on September 23, may go down in history as one of the most eloquent, sensitive Christian responses to the attacks. ( Dec.)