Forgive Us Our Debts

How Black Churches Use Bankruptcy to Survive

von Pamela Foohey

288 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

A revelatory study of how Black churches turn the financial system back against predatory lenders.When American churches face financial difficulties, a disproportionately high number of Black churches reorganize under chapter 11 bankruptcy. There are no easy explanations for this distinction: not location, denomination, leadership structure, or the reasons for the loans. In Forgive Us Our Debts, legal scholar Pamela Foohey asks why, then, Black churches account for two-thirds of all congregations that file for chapter 11 bankruptcy every year. Drawing on case studies of six Black churches and one white church, and 150 interviews with church leaders, members, and attorneys, Foohey finds answers in a long history of predatory lending. Unable to negotiate with recalcitrant loan officers, Black churches turn to the legal system to force reasonable concessions from lenders to prevent the stripping of their wealth and the destruction of their communities. While the structural discrimination remains, these churches have found in the bankruptcy system a refuge and some power to fight back.

• Reihe: Class 200: New Studies in Religion
• Themen: Philosophie und Religion Religion und Glaube Christentum Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Gruppen
• ISBN: 9780226851587
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 21.09.2026
• Größe: 153 x 228 mm
• Verlag: The University of Chicago Press