The 1917 photograph illustrates the interracial ecclesiology of the
Church of God in Christ during its pioneer era. Published along with the
interracial photograph was this paragraph:
Many denominations have made distinctions between their colored and
white members. Some advised electing colored offi cials to preside over col-
ored assemblies, while others have refused to elevate any colored elder to the
episcopacy or any other offi ce corresponding to it having equal power with
white bishops. This has led to many misunderstandings and has caused the
organizing of many separate colored denominations. The Church of God in
Christ recognizes the fact that all believers are one in Christ Jesus and all
its members have equal rights. Its Overseers, both colored and white, have
equal power and authority in the church. 8The interraciality of the photograph and the church polity of the Church
of God in Christ intentionally and frontally challenged the legalized sys-
tem of racial segregation. The quoted paragraph above echoed Galatians
3:28 (KJV) by highlighting that “all [are] one in Christ Jesus:” “ There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ” Consequently, in light of
Todorov’s and Honig’s hermeneutics, is the 1917 interracial Pentecostal
photograph displaying a lunatic community, a liminal community, a sub-
versive community, or a transcending community? How can Todorov and
Honig be employed to discern or classify the kind of community captured
by the photograph? What are the similarities and differences between this
photograph capturing early Pentecostalism as a lunatic community, liminal
community, subversive community, or transcending community? How
might the hermeneutics of the uncanny, the fantastic, the marvelous, and
the miraculous facilitate an historical investigation and classifi cation? 9
A P ENTECOSTAL PHOTOGRAPH AND THE HERMENEUTIC
OF THE UNCANNY
The 1917 photograph of an interracial Pentecostal group might register
as uncanny. In a hermeneutic of the uncanny, an artifact, event, or text is
“incredible, extraordinary, [or] shocking” to racial reasoning; in addition,
the acts appear as the behavior of a “mad person.” Is the photograph,
then, capturing racial lunacy? The lunatics function within society by oper-
ating according to what makes sense to them, honoring the rules that
216 D.D DANIELS III