Preaching with sacred fire6/29/2023 ![]() All good whoopers have some "music" in their throat, says Simmons, editor of "Preaching with Sacred Fire," an anthology of black sermons dating back to 1750. They're following rules of rhythm, tone and melody. Simmons says the best whoopers use their voices like instruments. Martha Simmons, a whooping preacher and scholar. "The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when people say that," says the Rev. Those are the critics who say whoopers are minstrels, not ministers. Is it fair to call it an art form? What's so hard about a preacher screaming and sweating in the pulpit? The most persistent debate over whooping revolves around its legitimacy. But more white preachers are discovering it through YouTube and by sharing the pulpit with black preachers. Some scholars say contemporary black churches are abandoning whooping because they think it's crass. Yet the black church has long been ambivalent about whooping. "The old folks used to say, 'If you ain't felt nothing, you ain't got nothing,''' Mitchell says. Henry Mitchell, a scholar who identified the link between whooping and African oral traditions. Whooping preachers aim "to wreck" a congregation by making people feel the sermon, not just hear it, says the Rev. ![]() Whooping pastors use chanting, melody and call-and-response preaching to reach parishioners in a place where abstract preaching cannot penetrate, scholars say. Some church scholars compare it to opera it's that moment the sermon segues into song. Whooping is a celebratory style of black preaching that pastors typically use to close a sermon. He was practicing an art form that's divided the black church since slavery. But those who grew up in the African-American church know better. Smith may have sounded like he was screaming. " But can I tell you what I did? I came to Jesus, just as I was. " One Tuesday morning, I heard the voice of Jesus saying, 'C'mon unto me and rest," Smith shouts as he punctuates his delivery with a series of guttural gasps and shrieks backed up by an organist's riffs. Smith had already given his congregation the "meat" of his message: scriptural references, archaeological asides, modern application - all the fancy stuff he learned in seminary. One woman in a satiny blue dress jumps up and down like she's on a pogo stick. "I wish you'd take the brakes off and let me preach," he tells his congregation during his Sunday morning sermon. Then a high-pitched sound rises from his throat like the wail of a boiling tea-kettle. Critics: Whoopers are minstrels, not ministersĬNN's Soledad O'Brien looks at how some are fighting debt from the pulpit in " Almighty Debt: A Black in America Special," Sunday at 8 p.m."Whoopers" use vocal gymnastics and storytelling to inspire congregations."Whooping" is a form of preaching that's dividing the black church.
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