This interfaith collection of essays on theology in diverse genres of protest music examines Habakkuk, Brazilian eschatology, Black liberation, esoteric Islam in rap, heavy metal as anti-theology, Howard Thurman’s relevance to jazz, Santería drumming, Jay-Z, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and the social justice chorale movement.

Songs of protest have been inspiring activists for millennia, and continue to be created, shared, and reworked across musical genres. From the prophet Habakkuk as proto-protest singer, through a broad spectrum of twentieth and twenty-first century artists and diverse faith traditions, Theology and Protest Music gathers compelling contributions that examine Brazilian eschatology, Black liberation and womanism, esoteric Islam in Five Percenter rap, heavy metal as anti-theology, Howard Thurman’s relevance to jazz, Cuban Santería priest Pedrito Martinez’ sacred Batá drumming, as well as theological reflections on Jay-Z, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and the social justice chorale movement. Those interested in theology and popular culture, as well as scholars of music, social justice, racial identity, LGBTQ+ studies, and gender studies will find new aspects of the broad spectrum of protest music and its diverse spiritual connections. Theology and Protest Music also features invited contributions by pioneering choral activist Catherine Roma and world-renowned performer, composer, and educator Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell.

Introduction

Heidi M. Altman and Jonathan H. Harwell

1.How Long? Habakkuk the Prophet as Proto-Protest Singer

Andrew Zack Lewis

2.Already and Not Yet: Eschatology in Brazilian Protest Songs (1960s-1990s)

Joêzer de Souza Mendonça and Allan Macedo de Novaes

3.From “We Shall Overcome” to “We Gon’ Be Alright:” How Social Movement Styles Influence Black Liberation Protest Music

Shaonta’ E. Allen

4.A Continuing Call from the Voice in the Wilderness: Jay-Z’s “Spiritual”

Rev. Santarvis Brown and Brent Swanson

5.From Ghetto to Gods, from Protest to Priest: The (Pro)creative Transformation of Self in Five Percenter Rap and Its Analogies to Sapiental Traditions in Islamic Theology

Martin Abdel Matin Gansinger

6.Wholeness and Hoeness: The Protest for Black Women’s Sexual Liberation

Ristina Gooden

7.“To Rise Beyond Jesus”: Heavy Metal as Anti-Theological Protest

Jackson T. Reinhardt

8.Howard Thurman and the Meaning of Jazz

Daryl Russell Grigsby

9.Conjuring in the Concert Hall: Pedrito Martinez’s Batá Drumming in Wynton Marsalis’ Ochas Concert

Hannah Marie Junco

10.Free Your Mind: Funkadelic and the Nitty-Gritty Hermeneutic

Kyle E. Brooks

11.“Mother, Mother…”: Contemplating Wounds with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Fifty Years Later

Carrie Rehak

12.Singing the Stories of Our Lives: Protest and Praise

Catherine Roma

Epilogue

Catherine Roma with Ysaye Maria Barnwell