Abstract
Through interviews, personal stories, observation, and analysis of church documents, Moses O. Biney seeks to demonstrate that immigrant religious congregations are not merely “ethnic enclaves that offer members safe haven.” Rather than merely offering protection from Western individualism and secular cultural values, the immigrant religious community provides space where the “home culture and host society culture interrogate one another” (3).
Though Biney’s conclusions apply to other immigrant church communities, this study focuses on a particular religious community: the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in New York (PCGNY). Consequently, the book’s organization is such that a reader unfamiliar with the PCGNY will be equipped to evaluate his thesis. The first chapters are an introduction to Ghanaian emigration to the United States (chap. 1), an overview of Ghanaian immigrants in the New York metro area (chap. 2), and a brief survey of Ghanaian sociocultural norms, with a focus on religious life and, in particular, Christianity in Ghana (chap. 3). In chapters 4 and 5 (40 percent of the book), Biney traces the history of the formation of the PCGNY congregation, the relation of the congregation to its home denomination, and the community life of the church, where he likens the church community to a compound house, in contrast to the isolated individualism observed in Western societies. Chapter 6 examines the challenges of gender and intergenerational relationships in the new context of American egalitarianism. Chapter 7 explores the relationship between immigrant spirituality and identity. Chapter 8 concludes with analysis and recommendations for the church to engage critically in order to thrive in the future.
Careful readers will gain an increased understanding of the unique challenges faced by African immigrants to the United States and the critical role religion plays in their adaption to their new situation but also in maintaining their spiritual integrity. In addition, the reader will benefit from the scholarly engagement of the combined interaction of race, ethnicity, and religion. Though the book succeeds in many facets, the conclusions and observations presented in the volume would have been more persuasive if the author had provided at least one case study of a Ghanaian Presbyterian congregation in the United States but outside the New York metro area.