Rhythm and Algorithm

Rhythm and Algorithm: Preaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence argues that preaching today unfolds within systems designed to sort, predict, and monetize human attention. In an era shaped by digital platforms, surveillance capitalism, and algorithmic control, what becomes of the sermon--and what becomes of the soul? Drawing from Black homiletics, political economy, womanist theology, and sound studies, Mark Andrew Jefferson argues that preaching is more than just speech; it is an embodied rhythm involving breath, cadence, testimony, and communal timing that challenges enclosure. Tracing a genealogy from the Black cathedral and homiletic canon to kitchens, storefronts, hush harbors, digital platforms, and eucharistic tables, Jefferson shows how respectability, uplift, and optimization disciplined preaching long before artificial intelligence appeared. Against these forces, the book names rhythm as a counterpractice: Spirit-led improvisation that refuses predictability and restores human depth. Rather than rejecting technology, Rhythm and Algorithm calls preachers and theologians to discern how the Spirit moves within--and against--systems of control, glitching the empire's speech and gathering communities in shared breath. This is a book for preachers, scholars, and students seeking faithful proclamation in a world governed by code.

Mark Andrew Jefferson is the John Norris Gladstone Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Acadia Divinity College. A preacher and theologian, he explores Black homiletics, embodiment, sound, and digital culture. He has preached and taught internationally. He was named the Bicentennial Preacher at Virginia Theological Seminary and a member of Morehouse College's Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers. His scholarship bridges preaching, political economy, and theology in the age of artificial intelligence.