Leonard E. Barrett Senior (1920 in

Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica Saint Elizabeth(), one of Jamaica's largest parishes, is located in the southwest of the island, in the county of Cornwall. Its capital, Black River, is located at the mouth of the Black River, the widest on the island. History Saint Elizab ...

– June 3, 2007 in

Cheltenham, Pennsylvania Cheltenham is an unincorporated community in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 19012. It is located directly over the city line ( Cheltenham Avenue) of Philadelphia. It also borders Northeast Philadelphia ove ...

) was a Jamaican-American professor of

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

known for his foundational work on

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

Biography

He was born in Jamaica in 1920. He was ordained as a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

minister, then migrated to the United States during the 1940s. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

Albright College Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1856 and had an enrollment of 1,652 students as of fall 2023. History Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when "Union Sem ...

, then was the pastor of an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

church in Pennsylvania. He received a master's of divinity from United Theological Seminary in 1961, then a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in history in 1962 and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

and anthropology in 1967 from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

. His dissertation, completed at Temple University, was published as ''The

Rastafarians Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

: a study of

Messianic In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach' ...

cultism in Jamaica'' in 1969. His book ''Soul-Force: African Heritage in Afro-American Religion'' was a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

for Philosophy And Religion in 1975. His book ''The Rastafarians: the Dreadlocks of Jamaica'' was reviewed favorably in the 1970s by academics and has become one of the standard anthropological examinations of the religious movement. It was republished on its twentieth anniversary in 1997. He published widely on various aspects of religious or spiritual life in Jamaica. Barrett also contributed to reference texts in the field of religion. He was a professor at Temple University. He also taught at colleges in Jamaica, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico.

Awards and honors

In 1983, he was awarded the Alumni Citation Award from Albright College. His life inspired one of his sons, Terry Lee Barrett, to write a semi-autobiographical novel based on the stories his father told him about Jamaican religion and spirituality.

Works

* ''The Rastafarians: a study of Messianic cultism in Jamaica,'' Caribbean monograph series, no. 6. (Puerto Rico: University of Puerto Rico, Institute of Caribbean Studies, 1969). * ''Soul-Force: African Heritage in Afro-American Religion,'' C. Eric Lincoln Series on Black Religion (New York: Anchor Press, 1974). * ''The Rastafarians: the Dreadlocks of Jamaica'' (Kingston, Jamaica: Sangster's Book Stores, 1977). ** Reprinted in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982. ** A revised and updated edition titled ''The'' ''Rastafarians: the Sounds of Cultural Difference'' was published in 1988 that included new research and a new afterword. ** It was also republished in a 20th anniversary edition in 1997, titled ''The Rastafarians''; this was republished in 2014''.'' ** It was also translated into Japanese in 1996. * ''The Sun and the Drum: African Roots in Jamaican Folk Tradition'' (Kingston, Jamaica: Sangster's Book Stores, in association with Heinemann, 1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Leonard E. 1920 births 2007 deaths Temple University alumni Temple University faculty Albright College alumni Jamaican academics Anthropologists of religion