Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African DiasporaThis major new study of the African origins of African American forms of worship is based on extensive fieldwork in black Baptist churches in rural Texas. Pitts, a scholar of anthropology and linguistics and a church pianist, played at and recorded numerous worship services over a period of five years. Through historical comparisons and linguistic analysis of this material, Pitts uncovers striking parallels between "Afro Baptist" services and the