Justin McLendon is professor of theology at Grand Canyon University and department chair for the Master of Arts programs for Grand Canyon Theological Seminary.

• Foreword, Donté A. FordIntroduction: Life Gets Heavy, Justin McLendonChapter 1: Love and Liberation: Listening to Glary Clark, Jr. with St. Augustine and James Cone, Alex SoslerChapter 2: Spiritual Accounting and Moral Reckoning: Faith and Justice in the Blues, Julia SimonChapter 3: The Beat Goes On: Rhythm, Embodiment, and the Soul in the Blues, Mark WinbornChapter 4: Mississippi Blues: Protesting Lived Experiences, Justin McLendonChapter 5: Racial Progress in American Music: Spirituals, Blues, Jazz, and Beyond, Douglas GroothuisChapter 6: On Muddy Waters’ Use of Sacred Tunes, Edward KomaraChapter 7: Robert Johnson and the Crossroads: Myth, Man, and the Meaning of the Mythology, Jonathan S. LowerChapter 8: “But I Didn’t Give Up on God”: The Christian-Blues Exegesis and Hermeneutics of Eddie “Son” House, Michael A. L. BroylesChapter 9: Salvation Through the Theological Communication of the Blues, Coldwell Daniel IV (Khyber)Chapter 10: “Worthwhile to Be Heard”: Spiritual Angst and Lamentation in the Blues, William L. EllisChapter 11: Singin’ the Blues: Expressions of Hope for the Grieving Heart, Jessica McMillanChapter 12: The Song Brings Joy to our Cry: Learning From the Blues About the Importance of Lament in Worship, Michael Sharp

Through the diverse disciplinary lenses of twelve authors, Theology and the Blues rethinks the long-held tropes separating blues from religion or spirituality, by expanding on research around blues and religion from authors such as James Cone, John Michael Spencer, Adam Gussow and others. Some previously devised divisions isolating blues from religion are turned on their head to show they are often more inexorably linked than sometimes meets the eye. The simplistic idea of Blues being the “Devil’s music,” far removed from Gospel music just doesn’t hold up. Blues music was simultaneously influenced by African American spirituals while also giving rise to more modern Black gospel music. In fact, blues can itself be almost a form of religion; as Albert Murray pointed out in Stomping the Blues, the act of performing blues music can be a way of exorcising the demons of the emotional state of having the blues.