Covenant: Scenes from an African American Church (Polis Center Series on Religion and Urban Culture)

'Miller's work caresses the heart strongly because it embraces with compassion and care the soul of life his images bear witness to. His work is like a great Motown song—it keeps coming back and reminding you what it's all about.' —Peter Turnley, photojournalist

With an introductory essay by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, Covenant is, in the words of photographer Tyagan Miller, 'a record of things seen and heard in uncommon circumstances, the view of life that underlies it, reflect(ing) the mutual aspiration of human beings everywhere.'

Culled from more than 4,000 images taken by Miller over a four-year period, the 93 photographs record the salient aspects of the life of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Indianapolis's near west side—services, baptisms, weddings, funerals, social events, and portraits of the congregants. In accompanying interviews, congregants share their stories of miracles, seeing angels, losing a child, racism and brotherly love, and being young, black, and poor.