When the People Respond: The Living Legacy of Call-and-Response Preaching in the Black Church

The Rhetorical Structures of Black Sermons by Rev. Dr. Otis Clayton, Sr. is a powerful exploration of the historical, theological, and cultural dynamics that shape African American preaching. Rooted in decades of pastoral experience and academic insight, this volume traces the origins and evolution of the Black sermonic tradition-from its West African oral heritage to the profound impact of slave preaching, through Jim Crow resistance, the Civil Rights era, and into the present day.

With vivid analysis and rich historical context, Dr. Clayton examines the rhetorical strategies used by preachers such as Jasper, Dunbar, and Coteny, illuminating how themes of liberation, pastoral care, and prophetic truth-telling have remained central to Black homiletics. From the sacred cadence of call-and-response to the embodied presence of the preacher in the pulpit, this book reveals preaching as both theological art and communal survival.

This is essential reading for pastors, seminarians, historians, and anyone interested in Black church traditions, liberation theology, and the transformative power of preaching. The Rhetorical Structures of Black Sermons affirms the sacred voice of the Black pulpit-past, present, and future.