Divine Discontent: The Religious Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois

(Oxford University Press) Although W. E. B. Du Bois is known for his skepticism and even hostility to religion, Kahn provides a reading of his works that seeks to overturn this view. He argues for the religious timbre of Du Bois’ writings, showing how Du Bois’ moral, literary, and political imagination is infused with religious rhetoric, concepts, and stories. Kahn also demonstrates how Du Bois self-consciously uses religious elements to challenge the traditional Christian worldview in which events function to confirm a divine order. Du Bois, he ultimately argues, stands squarely in the American tradition of pragmatic religious naturalism. Kahn is an assistant professor of religion at Vassar College.