Father Divine Research Paper

Make an argument about the ways in which Father Divine’s use of Christianity to empower and/or dis-empower himself as well as those who followed his teachings.

Divinity during Depression

At the peak of the Great Depression, many people felt lost and sought the salvation of some sort. At this time hopelessness brought many to look for help and guidance from a man who offered them food, community support, and the word of God. A man known as Father Divine founded the International Peace Mission movement, founded on ideas of racial equality and communal living. Father Divine had tens of thousands of followers, all believing him to be god on Earth. Father Divine’s use of Christianity helped empower himself to create a new black identity while

The new empowered black identity of Father Divine can be critiqued as a charlatan who misused money and exploited people for his own personal gain.

Many critics viewed Divine as a schemer living off the wealth produced by his minions, communal labor also guaranteed meals, clothing, and long-term housing to many destitute people who were otherwise at chronic risk of poverty and homelessness (Griffith 2001). Father Divine preyed on followers that would devote themselves to him because they have no other option. The use of Christianity to help empower himself can be found in his teaching of John 15. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman” (John 15:1). Christian interpretation will explain this as Jesus puts his entire ministry, especially these final saving hours, under the command of his Father. The Father is overseeing the whole thing. Jesus will give his life.

Followers of his movement were disempowered and fooled by this new identity. Father Divine attracted his followers by performing lavish communions. It was primarily at his Holy Communion banquets, the central public event of his ministry, where Father Divine expounded his intricate theology of matter and spirit. He then had his followers help with preparation by performing chores. It was by working on their sacred meals that the followers felt connected to their god. To his followers that believed he was the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, believing his messages of devotion was easy to want to believe. He gave them a place to stay, meals to eat, and messages that gave him hope only within himself. To most of America, especially black America, he was doing things no other black man could have gotten away with. Father Divine’s ministry, whatever other functions it performed, had as its cornerstone the practice of feeding hungry bodies, bodies who were trained to see this sustenance as distributed to them by God himself. In this case, the bodies were being fed by Father Divine (Giffith 2001). No doubt, many poor, homeless, and hungry people were drawn to Father Divine’s mission solely because of the provisions offered there disempowering people at their weakest moment to find salvation at any outlet