These essays focus on the relation between "black life" and spirituality--drawing both on sources of African American spirituality, including the Spirituals, and other sources of Christian mysticism and spirituality (including Angela of Foligno, John of the Cross, Ignatius Loyola). The central thesis is that Black people are made to be loved. This is God's unambiguous will, and anything that contravenes it is incompatible with true Christian spirituality.