The relationship between violence and Christianity in the novels of James Baldwin

An examination of James Baldwin's fiction reveals a strong and persistent condemnation of Christianity and the Christian church. I plan to discuss the manner in which Baldwin's six novels--Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), Giovanni's Room (1956), Another Country (1962), Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Just Above My Head (1979)--treat the theme of the failure of Christianity by establishing a definitive relationship between Christianity and violence. In his first and last novels, the relationship between Christianity and violence is a dominant subject, and in all of these works, the connection between the two is at the root of the major conflicts.;To what extent Baldwin is able to rely on historical data to put forth his fictional protect against Christianity by linking it to violence is the subject of the first part of the dissertation. Chapter one, therefore, seeks to place the relationship between violence and Christianity in an historical perspective by tracing their evolution from Christianity's birth and growth to its present complicity with violence. The second chapter is a discussion of Go Tell It on the Mountain, in which Christianity and violence affect all of the major characters, especially John Grimes, who must profess an acceptance of Christianity or allow Christianity to destroy him. In the third and fourth sections, there is an analysis of the relationship between Christianity and violence as evident in Baldwin's next four novels: Giovanni's Room, Another Country, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone. Although the central subject matter in these works is not Christianity, each novel uses violence to argue against traditional Christian concepts and to challenge their value and practical feasibility in a world beset with human conflict. The final chapter focuses on Just Above My Head, Baldwin's other novel with a dominant religious theme. Just as Go Tell It on the Mountain is a condemnation of Christianity, Just Above My Head details the failure of Christianity and the church to rid society of unchristian behavior and beliefs.