Urban God Talk

Andre E. Johnson is the Dr. James L. Netters Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Religion and African American Studies at Memphis Theological Seminary.

• IntroductionPart I. Theoretical and Methodological ApproachesChapter 1: Somewhere Underneath the MC’s Wit and the Evangelical Word: Toward a Christian Ethical Evaluation of Hip Hop PolemicJames W. PerkinsonChapter 2: The Message from the WildernessMichael D. RoysterChapter 3: “To Set at Liberty Them that are Bruised”: Exposing Liberation Theology within Hip HopWeldon Merrial McWilliams, IVChapter 4: “Put Your Hands Together”: The Theological Meaning of Call-Response and Collective Participation in Rap MusicAngela M. NelsonChapter 5: “Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so”: Viewing Rap Music as a Form of African American SpiritualityDarrell WesleyChapter 6: From the same Womb, of the same Struggle: Hip Hop Music and its Connection with the Blues and the GospelsVaNatta S. FordChapter 7: Performing Spirituality: Lil Wayne’s Letters from a New York JailSharon LauricallaPart II. Hip Hop and ReligionChapter 8: Rap with Soul and Pray with Flow: Youth on Hip Hop Musicality and Catholic SpiritualityTim Huffman and Amira De la GarzaChapter 9: Embracing the Nation: Hip Hop, Louis Farrakhan, and Alternative MusicDawn-Marie GibsonChapter 10: Oath Continuities: The Inner Structure, Meaning, and Spiritualism of Mau Mau Hip HopMickie Mwanzia KosterChapter 11: My Soul Knows how to Flow: A Critical Analysis of the History of Urban Black Christian-Themed RapErika D. GaultChapter 12: Morality, the Sacred, and God in Ghanaian Hip HopHarry Nii Koney OdamttenChapter 13: In the Church, in the Streets: A Spectrum of Religious Expression in Christian Hip Hop and Spoken Word Poetry in Atlanta and DetroitShanesha R. F. Brooks Tatum

Johnson’s efforts to promote ongoing dialogue between religious expressions and the ever-expanding cultural force of hip hop are laudable and useful for their interdisciplinary reach beyond religious and theological studies. This book is a valuable read for laity, students, and scholars alike that promises to make a robust contribution to the diversity of intellectual resources in the burgeoning area of religion in hip hop studies.