Hip-Hop Theology: Only the Lover Raps

Hip-hop has crossed boundaries in recent years—from comic books (Into the Spiderverse) to Broadway (Hamilton). For over fifty years, hip-hop has grown as a cultural icon. There’s no escaping it.
How does hip-hop fit within Christianity? Can hip-hop beats be sanctified? Can perverse lyrics serve the kingdom? In other words, “What has Jerusalem to do with the Bronx, or Compton, or the South Side of Chicago, or the west side of Houston?” Senior scholars, emerging scholars, and practitioners have joined voices to help answer to these questions. Less driven by swag and beats, this volume analyzes thoughtful artists exploring redemptive, complex, and sometimes problematic themes

Claude Atcho is priest and church planter at Church of the Resurrection in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as author of Reading Black Books and Rhythms of Faith: A Devotional Pilgrimage through the Church Year.




Alex Sosler is assistant professor of Bible and ministry at Montreat College and assisting priest at Redeemer Anglican Church in Asheville, North Carolina. He is author of Learning to Love: Christian Education as Pilgrimage and A Short Guide to Spiritual Formation: Finding Life in Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Community and editor of Theology and the Avett Brothers.