YORKTOWN — The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Talking History Series will feature author Alphonso Saville, IV at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2 at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
In a conversation moderated by Travis Harris, Norfolk State University visiting assistant professor, Saville will discuss his book “The Gospel of John Marrant: Conjuring Christianity in the Black Atlantic,” followed by a book signing. The program is included with museum admission and advance registration at jyfmuseums.org/lectures.
Saville is a scholar of American religion whose research focuses on the legacies of slavery in American religion, African American Christianity, and the religions and literature of the African diaspora, according to JYF. Saville is an assistant professor of American Religious History and Mission at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He was previously an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow for American Religion and Slavery in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, and the 2014-15 Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellowship in African and African American Studies at Dartmouth College.
“The Gospel of John Marrant: Conjuring Christianity in the Black Atlantic” is the first full-length study of North America’s first black ordained minister, the Reverend John Marrant, according to the foundation. The book examines how Protestantism and West African indigenous religious practices deeply informed Marrant’s life and ministry.
Marrant’s life and work, Saville contends, reveal the diverse religious cultures that contributed to the formation of African American Christianity and its evolution into a prominent institution during the colonial and early history of the United States, the foundation said.
Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, along with its museum shop and café, is located on 200 Water Street. Parking at the museum is free for museum visitors. Museum admission is $20 for adults, $10 for youth ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 and under. Residents of York County, James City County and the City of Williamsburg, including William & Mary students, receive complimentary admission with proof of residency.
For more information, visit jyfmuseums.org.
