{"id":955,"date":"2023-10-07T22:48:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T02:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/?p=955"},"modified":"2023-10-07T22:48:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T02:48:04","slug":"a-self-proclaimed-intercessor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/2023\/10\/07\/a-self-proclaimed-intercessor\/","title":{"rendered":"A Self-Proclaimed Intercessor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The religiosity of Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/em> is incontestable. Baldwin intentionally references various tenets of Christianity throughout this novel not only as an homage to his upbringing but also as an attempt to make sense of this faith that dominated his youth and reconcile it with his beliefs about love and life as a Black American. John\u2019s father Gabriel is a clear example of the religious (sub)text intrinsic to Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many moments in which the character Gabriel parallels Angel Gabriel who served as an intercessor between God and humans, communicating God\u2019s wishes to humans throughout the Bible. In Luke 1, Angel Gabriel explains to Mary, \u201cI am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God.\u201d Like the archangel from the Bible, Gabriel in the novel also makes clear his unique relationship with God to those around him; he states, \u201cI been doing the will of the Lord, and can\u2019t nobody sit in judgment on me but the Lord. The Lord called me out, He chose me<\/em>, and I been running with Him ever since I made a start\u201d (206). At another point in the novel, Gabriel tells Elizabeth, \u201cThe Lord\u2019s been speaking to my heart, and I believe it\u2019s His will that you and me be man and wife\u201d (182). This is much like in The Annunciation when Angel Gabriel says to Mary, \u201cDo not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.\u201d Here, both Gabriels take part in the formation of the Holy Family in their respective settings.\u00a0The likeness between Angel Gabriel and Gabriel in Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/em> has a critical literary and argumentative purpose. Gabriel invokes his closeness to God as a source of moral authority and thus demands compliance from other members of his family and congregation. Baldwin then uses the other characters as witnesses to Gabriel\u2019s anything-but-holy actions that sharply contrast his self-proclaimed role of sacrosanct intercessor. In doing so, Baldwin casts doubt on Gabriel\u2019s legitimacy as a voice for God within their community and, with that, the lessons and messages Gabriel preaches on God’s behalf, primarily, that sexuality and romantic love have no place in the church and that religion is means by which to ensure Black Americans stay within a (racial, patriarchal, etc.) hierarchy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The religiosity of Go Tell It on the Mountain is incontestable. Baldwin intentionally references various tenets of Christianity throughout this novel not only as an homage to his upbringing but also as an attempt to make sense of this faith that dominated his youth and reconcile it with his beliefs about love and life as … Continue reading A Self-Proclaimed Intercessor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4680,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[49822,483382,471414,146],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-christianity","tag-gabriel","tag-native-son","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/jamesbaldwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}