Street Scriptures

Between God and Hip-Hop

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Pub Date May 16 2022 | Archive Date May 01 2022

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Description

This book explores an important aspect of hip-hop that is rarely considered: its deep entanglement with spiritual life.
 
The world of hip-hop is saturated with religion, but rarely is that element given serious consideration. In Street Scriptures, Alejandro Nava focuses our attention on this aspect of the music and culture in a fresh way, combining his profound love of hip-hop, his passion for racial and social justice, and his deep theological knowledge. Street Scriptures offers a refreshingly earnest and beautifully written journey through hip-hop’s deep entanglement with the sacred.
 
Nava reveals a largely unheard religious heartbeat in hip-hop, exploring crosscurrents of the sacred and profane in rap, reggaeton, and Latinx hip-hop today. Ranging from Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, and Bad Bunny to St. Augustine and William James, Nava examines the ethical-political, mystical-prophetic, and theological qualities in hip-hop, probing the pure sonic and aesthetic signatures of music, while also diving deep into the voices that invoke the spirit of protest. The result is nothing short of a new liberation theology for our time, what Nava calls a “street theology.”
This book explores an important aspect of hip-hop that is rarely considered: its deep entanglement with spiritual life.
 
The world of hip-hop is saturated with religion, but rarely is that element...

Advance Praise

“Nava writes with easy erudition, equally at home in the pages of Nietzsche as in the phrases of Nas.”—Adam Bradley, author of The Poetry of Pop, on In Search of Soul

“Nava writes with easy erudition, equally at home in the pages of Nietzsche as in the phrases of Nas.”—Adam Bradley, author of The Poetry of Pop, on In Search of Soul


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780226819167
PRICE $27.50 (USD)
PAGES 256

Average rating from 5 members


Featured Reviews

I know very little about hip hop or rap but still found this book totally compelling. Nava infuses his genuine love of the music with a knowledge of theology to write an academic book that is totally readable. I learned not only about the history of hip hop and how it connects to religious themes, but also about theology itself. There are so many relevant examples throughout the book that it is accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of pop culture. It started off slow, but took off right away. This would be a great book for a hip hop fan or anyone who is interested in Christian theology being applied to new contexts. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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