In Finding God in All the Black Places, Beretta E. Smith-Shomade contends that Black spirituality and Black church religiosity are the critical crux of Black popular culture. She argues that cultural, community, and social support live within the Black church and that spirit, art, and progress are deeply entwined and seal this connection. Including the work of artists such as Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Prince, Spike Lee, and Oprah Winfrey, the book examines contemporary Black television, film, music and digital culture to demonstrate the role, impact, and dominance of spirituality and religion in Black popular culture. Smith-Shomade believes that acknowledging and comprehending the foundations of Black spirituality and Black church religiosity within Black popular culture provide a way for viewers, listeners, and users not only to endure but also to revitalize.
This book is also freely available online as an open-access digital edition.
THE PROGRAM
CALL TO WORSHIP: God Is...Understanding Spirituality as the Sine Qua Non of Black Popular Culture
INVOCATION: God Is Trying to Tell You Something: Calling Up the Mediated Black Past
PROCESSIONAL: Jesus and Hennessy Go Good Together: Sacralizing the Secular
PRAYER OF CONFESSION: As for Me and My House…Spike Lee’s Negotiation with Christianity as a Sign of Blackness
TESTIMONY: I Got a Testimony: Sistah Blackacademics and God
PRAISE BREAK: Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance All Night! Mediated Audiences and Black Women’s Spirituality
TITHES & OFFERING: I’mma Be Stupid Rich!: Millennials and the Holy Grail of Tech Salvation
PASSING OF THE PEACE: Don’t Play with God! Black Church, Fun and Possibilities
SELECTION: Never Losing Its Power: (Re)Visioning the Roots and Routes of Black Spirituality
MESSAGE: Urgent Like a Mofo: The Sublime Synergy of Sexuality in Black Music Culture
THE INVITATION: I Shall Wear a Crown: Black Oprah the Savificent
BENEDICTION: But God (reflection)