The Black Church

For this blog topic, coverage of the Black church in the US, I shot for a diverse selection of news media. Relevant Magazine is a Christian, progressive magazine targeting young evangelicals, Time is a news weekly that targets upper class liberals, and Ebony covers politics and culture and targets the black community.


The Problems of Christian Hip Hop

This article explores the phenomenon of Christian Hip-Hop. The author defends the genre, acknowledging that it has had limited success, but believes Christian Hip-Hop artists would make better music and sell more albums if music labels gave them a higher recording budget. My main observation is that this article seems to be written primarily for white people. The author makes no attempt to address other issues about the music that might make more sense from an African American standpoint. The Black Church is briefly mentioned, only to point out its limited support for the genre. The tone and reasoning the author uses makes me think that he is completely ignorant of the significance Hip Hop music plays in black culture, or even in the black church.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/music/blog/16950-the-problems-of-christian-hip-hop


Jeremiah Wright Goes to War

This article, in Time Magazine, covers a press conference given by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and attempts to put into context some of the radical remarks in his sermons by pointing out that civil rights leaders and other black leaders historically have not been afraid to use strong, controversial language. The actual remarks of Wright reminded me of the chapter in Priest-Nieves that discusses how the Bible can be used to justify good or bad theology based around an ethnic context. The author seizes upon a point Wright makes about how white America does not understand black churches, and supports it by giving historical examples like Martin Luther King. The author himself does appear to have a deep understanding of African-American religious tradition. The tone of the article is critical, yet sympathetic, pointing out that most people only know that black churches have “good music,” and yet they don’t “hear the lyrics of pain and suffering.”

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1735662,00.html

Understanding The Word

This article, in Ebony Magazine, presents a scathing defense of the remarks by Rev. Wright. The author declares “Sunday mornings show America at its most segregated,” pointing out that most white Americans are completely ignorant of the Black church culture so historically significant in America. The author also makes the point that most black people had no problem whatsoever with Wright’s remarks, that they were normal among black ministers and are a response to what they say stems from centuries of fighting for their rights. What left the biggest impression on me was how the author included the full quote from Wright that set off so much controversy. To be honest I had only heard the most radical phrase of it before and made my judgment. I’d never considered it fully or in context, and now my impression of what Wright said is different.

http://www.ebonyjet.com/perspectives/national/understanding.aspx