SUNY Oswego faculty member Dr. David Moody examines Christian rap and gospel hip-hop as an evolution of black liberation theology in his recently published book “Political Melodies in the Pews?:
The Voice of the Black Christian Rapper in the Twenty-first Century Church.
“In his third year on the SUNY Oswego communication studies faculty, Moody grew up in a black Baptist church, worked in the broadcasting industry for more than 20 years, did his dissertation in American culture studies at Bowling Green, studied the history of musical influences on black churches, and continues today as a deacon and youth minister in a Baptist church in Painesville, Ohio.
Moody said he brings all that research and experience to bear in “Political Melodies,” acknowledging his book is, in part, an examination of black America in the current political landscape.
“The book is timely,” he said. “I’m glad it came out when it did as we look at the political climate today, in particular the presidential election.
I reference some things about Barack Obama in the book — his relationship with (the Rev.) Jeremiah Wright, how he’s been looked at not only by black America but white America. This leads into how we as a black people have been looked at through the years and have been treated.”
Moody’s book, published by Lexington Books, a subsidiary of Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, explores the view that many black clergy in America espouse a “theology of liberation” that has rejected and then embraced musical genres from spirituals to gospel, from the blues to contemporary Christian.
Rap music and hip-hop culture, particularly in fundamentalist black churches, are in the rejection period.
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article courtesy of BCNN1.com
