Plenty Good Room
A Lenten Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals
Published December 2016
There is room for everyone.
This unique short-term Bible study combines an in-depth look at Scripture, American history, and the music and lyrics of six African American spirituals. The six-session study provides biblical, social, and historical analyses of the spirituals: 'Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit," "This Lonesome Valley," "Bow Down on Your Knees," "Plenty Good Room," “Ain't Dat Good News," and "Were You There?" Marilyn E. Thornton wrote all-new lessons appropriate to the season.Leader helps can be found in the book providing discussion questions and activities. Plenty Good Room is a powerful resource for small groups, Sunday schools, choir groups, and any setting where persons seek to enrich their devotional and spiritual experience through God's Word and music.
About the Authors
Marilyn E. Thornton
Marilyn E. Thornton (Master of Divinity, Vanderbilt) has degrees in music from Howard University and from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. She is the lead editor for Abingdon Press’s Bible study series based on spirituals, the songbook Zion Still Sings: For Every Generation, and VBS programs. She has taught at Howard, Tennessee State, and Trevecca Nazarene universities and serves as Campus Minister of the Wesley Foundation at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lewis V. Baldwin
Lewis V. Baldwin is a native of Alabama and received his B.A. in history from Talladega College. He then received an M.A. degree in Black Church Studies followed by a M.Div. degree in Theology at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York. In 1980 Dr. Baldwin earned a Ph.D. degree in American Christianity from Northwestern University. He has taught at Wooster College in Ohio, Colgate University in New York, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and currently is Professor Emeritus in Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Baldwin is the author of over sixty articles and several books. He and his wife live in Nashville, Tennessee.