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Omar M. McRoberts’s *Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood* (2003), stemming from his Harvard University dissertation, offers a sociological examination of religious life in Four Corners, a predominantly African American and impoverished district within Greater Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. The study addresses three core questions: the proliferation and sustenance of churches in poor areas, the institutional variations among these congregations, and their engagement with community issues. McRoberts identifies the availability of inexpensive, vacant commercial storefronts—a consequence of white flight in the 1960s—as the primary factor enabling Four Corners to boast an unusually high density of congregations. These churches, many of which are Pentecostal/Apostolic in affiliation and cater to diverse African American, Caribbean, and Latino working-class populations, often function as “niche churches,” drawing their congregants from outside the immediate neighborhood. McRoberts presents a nuanced understanding of church “activism,” challenging conventional scholarly definitions that often equate activism solely with direct community outreach to non-members. He posits that most Four Corners congregations practice a form of “trickle-down” spiritual activism, prioritizing personal transformation and the socialization of members. Ministers, in this framework, believe that broader social change is best facilitated by secular agencies, while their churches excel at equipping parishioners with the spiritual and practical tools—such as a positive outlook fostered by divine empowerment and encouragement to vote—necessary for coping with societal challenges. Worship experiences, characterized by glossolalia, ecstatic shouting, and dancing, are central to fostering *communitas*. A notable distinction emerges between immigrant and “native” churches: immigrant congregations tend to offer more comprehensive social services, including job referrals and assistance with rent or immigration information, primarily because their members have less access to secular support programs. Crucially, the study identifies five “prophetic” congregations, three of which are Pentecostal/Apostolic, that directly pursue social transformation. Examples include Azusa Christian Community, led by Pastor Eugene Rivers, which implemented extensive services like tutoring, job placement, street outreach, and court advocacy, actively engaging vulnerable populations such as prostitutes and gang members. Holy Road Church initiated after-school programs and community events for local youth, while Pastor Barbara Calvin of Jude Church founded Citizens Against Homicide, a counseling center for the bereaved parents of murder victims. McRoberts attributes the pronounced social engagement of these prophetic pastors to their exposure to the Civil Rights Movement and their development of a “new Pentecostal hermeneutics” that advocates for ministering to the “whole person”—body and soul. This finding effectively refutes prior scholarship that links theological conservatism, particularly within Pentecostal traditions, to a disinterest in social activism. *Streets of Glory* makes several significant contributions to the scholarship on urban religion. It serves as a vital reminder that urban storefront churches remain a palpable reality in American cities, providing a corrective to the recent academic and popular focus on megachurches. McRoberts effectively demonstrates that these storefront congregations are far from “otherworldly” in their orientation, actively empowering their members to engage with and overcome life’s problems, including civic participation through voting. The study updates earlier works on black storefront churches by scholars like Horace Cayton, St. Clair Drake, and Franklin Frazier, and further corroborates the frequently observed disconnect between political involvement at the national denominational leadership level and concrete social transformation initiatives at the local congregational level. While the review notes some limitations, such as a reliance on studies of white churches when discussing doctrinal impact and an incomplete address of how such extensive religious activity was sustained or why local recruitment was not prioritized, *Streets of Glory* is ultimately lauded as an invaluable resource for understanding the ongoing prevalence and multifaceted roles of storefront churches in urban settings.
