Hip-hop culture is experiencing a sea change today that has implications for evangelism, worship, and spiritual practices. Yet Christians have often failed to interpret this culture with sensitivity. Sociologist, preacher, pop-culture expert, and DJ Ralph Watkins understands that while there is room for a critique of mainstream hip-hop and culture, by listening more intently to the music's story listeners can hear a prophet crying out, sharing the pain of a generation that feels as though it hasn't been heard. His accessible, balanced engagement reveals what is inherently good and redeeming in hip-hop and rap music and uses that culture as a lens to open up the power of the Bible for ministry to a generation.

A sociologist and pop-culture expert offers a balanced engagement of hip-hop and rap music, showing God's presence in the music and the message.

In this book, Hodge takes into account the Christological, theological, and ecclesiological ruminations of a selected group of Hip Hop and rap song lyrics, interviews, and interviews from those defined as Hip Hoppers. The aim of this examination is to ascertain what a Hip Hop theology of community might entail, how it may look, and what it could feel like. The central premise are questions: does a Hip Hop ‘theology’ even fit? Is there an actual motif which Hip Hoppers are espousing within the supernatural realm? This study concerns itself with just over 8,500 songs. Its timespan is between 1987-2011, and it contains interviews from those in the Hip Hop community.

When the basic conceptions of the world held by whole generations in the West are formed by popular culture, and in particular by the music that serves as its soundtrack, can theology remain unchanged? The authors of the essays in this important volume insist that the answer is no. These gifted theologians help readers make sense of what happens to religious experience in a world heavily influenced by popular media culture, a world in which songs, musicians, and celebrities influence our individual and collective imaginations about how we might live. Readers will consider the theological relationship between music and the creative process, investigate ways that music helps create communities of heightened moral consciousness, and explore the theological significance of songs. Contributors to this fascinating collection include: David Dalt Maeve Heaney Daniel White Hodge Michael J. Iafrate Jeffrey F. Keuss Mary McDonough Gina Messina-Dysert Christian Scharen Myles Werntz Tom Beaudoin is associate professor of theology at Fordham University, specializing inpractical theology. His books include Witness to Dispossession: The Vocation of a Postmodern Theologian; Consuming Faith: Integrating Who We Are with What We Buy; and Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Faith of Generation X. He has given nearly 200 papers, lectures, or presentations on religion and culture over the last thirteen years. He has been playing bass in rock bands since 1986 and directs the Rock and Theology Project for Liturgical Press (www.rockandtheology.com). "

Hip-hop is here. The beats ring out in our cities. Hip-hop culture is all around us: in the clothes youth wear, in the music they listen to, in the ways they express themselves. It is the language they speak, the rhythm they move to. It is a culture familiar with the hard realities of our broken world; the generation raised with rap knows about the pain. They need to know about the hope. Enter the hip-hop church. Like the culture it rises from, the hip-hop church is relevant and bold. And it speaks to the heart. In this book, pastors Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson show the urgency of connecting hip-hop culture and church to reach a generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They give practical ideas from their urban churches and other hip-hop churches about how to engage and incorporate rap, break dancing, poetry and deejays to worship Jesus and preach his Word. Hip-hop culture is shaping the next generation. Ignoring it will not reduce its influence; it will only separate us from the youth moving to its rhythm. How will they hear Christ's message of truth and hope if we don't speak their language? And how can we speak their language if we don't understand and embrace their culture? Hear the beat. Join the beat. Become the beat that brings truth and hope to a hungry, hurting generation.

Rock and roll is more than just music. Rock is a culture and an ideology, which carries its own ethos. It is forcefully countercultural and exists as a bane in the sight of dominant Western culture. As rock engages and critiques culture, it invariably encounters issues of meaning that are existential and theological. A transformational theology of rock begins with those existential and theological issues raised by and within rock music. With God On Our Side attempts to respond to these queries in a way that is faithful to the work of the kingdom of God on earth by mining our long theological tradition and seeing what cohesive responses can be made to the issues raised by rock music. At its best, rock acknowledges there is something wrong with the world, raises awareness of marginalized voices, and offers an alternative mode of existence within our present reality. By teasing out the theological issues found in rock music, this book synthesizes the findings to create a distinctive cultural theology that is sensitive to the plight of the marginalized in the West. In this way, the book offers a way forward towards a transformational theology of rock and roll.

Pro Ecclesia is a quarterly journal of theology published by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.