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Raven Carnes
Dr. Nami Kim
Religion and Sexuality
4 October 2015
Literature Review
For my review of the literature, I sought out resources that were aimed at the black
church’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American community. While I was
conducting this research, I noticed that the research on my topic could be broken down into
many parts, which my review of the literature will show. Many of the articles that specifically
addressed the black church, black women, and HIV/AIDS all had a similar time frame that was
within the last 10 years. This could be attributed to the fact that black women have become the
cohort that has the highest new cases of HIV/AIDS within the past 10 years. I also believe this
could be contributed to the shift in focus from gay men being the only carriers of the disease. I
noticed that many of the articles had women researchers which I found to be positive. With all
the different parts to be considered in this argument, I began to examine them deeper in order to
better shape and formulate my argument. I looked for ways in which the literature could help me
reshape a stronger thesis. I sought sources that critiqued how the black church addresses
HIV/AIDS, and how that affects black women and their resources of prevention. First I wanted
to go into some background of how spirituality and health can be tied to together, and the black
woman’s role in the church.
Beginning with women’s role in the church, Torkington and Neal1 wrote an article
addressing the black woman’s role in church and society. I found this article to be interesting and
1 Protasia Torkington, and Diana Neal. “The Black Woman in Church and Society.” Feminist Theology: The Journal
Of The Britain & Ireland School Of Feminist Theology no. 25 (September 2000).
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important because to understand why addressing the black woman’s needs, especially when it
comes to health issues like HIV/AIDS that is greatly affecting black women, we must know and
grasp the role and plight of black churchwomen. Their article describes that there is an “ethical
debt” owed to black women because of their role, and I agreed with this wholeheartedly.2 I would
like to include some of their views as sociologists to help shape my argument of the importance
of addressing black women’s health, more specifically HIV/AIDS. Examining the role of black
churchwomen is essential and this article could be useful if I can tie it in. The role of women in
the church can help shape the argument in the fight against HIV/AIDs for black women. By
getting the church to understand that some of the most important people in your congregation
and your church are dying, it is time to come up with a game plan to implement change.
Spirituality and Health for Women of Color3 addressed how important spirituality can be
to women of color. While the authors defined spirituality and religiousness as separate entities,
