Summary Of The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin

Lam Pham

English 133

Professor Pinches

April 12th, 2017

A Journey Finding Faith The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a book published in 1953 which examines the themes of race and religion, specifically the racial tensions between black and white Americans that were prevalent in the 1960s. The author critiques the role of Christianity and the Nation of Islam in impacting and fueling onto the tension between races, through a discussion of his personal experiences with faith. His accounts, which are told from a first person perspective, are divided into three stages: his encounter with the Christian church, his rejection of the Christian faith and his rejection of the Nation of Islam. Both experiences with Christianity and the Nation of Islam

Not shortly after, he was invited to a gathering at Alijah Muhammad’s residence, a meeting which would establish his viewpoint on the role of religion within the American society forever. He confessed to have “heard a great deal, long before” meeting the great Alijah but “paid very little attention” to his movement because he was not interested in the Black Muslim Movement and the Nation of Islam (47). Baldwin’s confessions about the Nation of Islam provides a glimpse into his viewpoint as a black man on the ineffectiveness of the movement carried out by black people. He feels that such actions have produced little effects on the lives of black Americans and the way it has been ongoing for a long time has proved its ineffective in improving lives. However, the dining session at Elijah’s residence provoked him to view the movement differently where although he declined Elijah’s offer to join, he deduced that the similarities in the nature of both the Nation of Islam and the Christian ideals lies in its greedy emphasis on promoting a social hierarchy. Baldwin arrives at the conclusion that in order to lessen the racial tensions, an effective solution could only be to rely on the willingness to accept changes, formed under the basis of love and the diminishment of judgments based on one’s skin color and

Through Baldwin’s journey, one finds themselves reflective on the judgments and beliefs they hold to begin evaluating problems with less subjectiveness. Works Cited

Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. First Vintage International ed. Vol. 3.1_r2. New York: Vintage, 1993. Kindle E-book.

VOA. "James Baldwin Wrote About Race and Identity in America." VOA. VOA, 30 Sept. 2006. Web. 11 Apr.