The Image of God in Hip-Hop Culture

Theology professor Anthony Bradley writes an interesting blog post addressing how "ghetto" culture reflects the image of God, as all cultures do. He makes a few compelling points I've never considered before about how God has created us in His image, and the implications that has on how we view cultures that seem so foreign and often wrong to us.

Bradley clearly does not condone the parts of Hip-Hop culture that glorify misogyny, pride, materialism, and immorality, but he does imply that spiritual redemption doesn't necessarily elicit a rejection of culture.

Thugs and hoochies don't need to be "fixed" culturally. Because of the dignity inherent to their creation and membership into the human family what is needed is have fall-affected dignity redeemed to a life of virtue by following Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Are there social and professional trade-offs in a culture of white privilege for cats with grills and tattooed necks and hands. Absolutely! That's a separate issue. In America, you have to know when to turn ghetto "off." Style and cultural norms are issues of prudence not an issue of dignity. As is, ghetto fabulous sisters and brothers are beautiful image bearers of God because they belong to humanity. We are in solidarity with them. They belong. The goal is not make them human (which in some cases means adopting the social customs of those not living in the barrio) the goal is unlock their human potential so that it can fully glorify God in ways unique to them and become truly human. 

Penny Rant

The interwebs coughed up this gem for me today.  It's author John Green discussing reasons to eliminate the penny from circulation with great humor and intelligence.


FYI - John Green is one half of the creative force behind the Nerdfighters video blog, where he, along with his brother Hank, exchanges regular video commentaries that most often pretty funny and insightful (for nerds).  They started this exchange as a way to communicate long distance without texting or emails.  It's a great idea to try resist the temptation to resort to "lazy" communications such as texts, emails, and Facebook in favor of more engaging and well thought out pseudo "face-to-face" video monologues. My dad has strongly encouraged me to work hard at regular (daily or weekly) intentional communication like this to better stir up the exchange of intelligent ideas, as you see here.


Anyway, John Green hates pennies. Check it out.





HT: Freakonomics Blog

Reflections On The 9

Do your mind a favor and take a second to check out the video below.  It was put together as a history project by a 9th grader, Shea Higgins a few years back.  It ended up winning a well-deserved state award.  Yep, it's really over 9 minutes long, but watch it anyway...

I had posted this on Facebook a couple days ago, but I think the weight of it missed most of my "friends", which comes as no surprise given Facebook's general use these days

(*FIBA Alert! - I am a FB junkie like everyone else, and am prone to spend hours looking at complete strangers' pictures, making fun of people I barely know, telling everyone what I had for lunch, and complaining about how hard life is as I sit on my couch at midday, Pepsi in hand, bored to death with the digital conscious of the ENTIRE WORLD. But still, if FB is your source for substantive information and provocative thought, well... you're probably not reading this.)

This video is relevant now due to the recent death of Jefferson Thomas, on of the 9 students who first integrated public schools in Arkansas. And as I read news of Thomas' passing and in turn took in this moving story, I couldn't help thinking a couple of things:


- To those who subscribe to the idea of a present-day "Post-Racial America", where race no longer matters, or even is noticed anymore, I would ask of you to remain cautious in your optimism so that you are willing to acknowledge that the way some people feel about race in America lags well behind the reality of race in America. Have we come a long way in the 56 years since Brown V. Board of Education? You bet! I am living proof of this fact every day. But as I tried to explain to my wife the other day, I feel sometimes as though there is some sort of collective conscious shared by black Americans that causes us to sometimes be less hopeful, even in the face of great advancement and personal success. We all still gasp when hearing news of a warranted or unwarranted police shooting of another young black male. We all seethe when some idiot drops the "N-word" and then tries to justify it. We all shake our heads in dismay when racial epithets are displayed or a noose hung from a tree at an American university. I would argue that most intelligent and compassionate people respond in the same way as I do, but I would also argue that for some unexplained reason, I feel experience in a way a white person doesn't. No doubt, I've experienced racial discrimination, but never any threat to my personal safety or well-being, and yet something wells up inside me and I become much more defensive that I probably need to be. I'm guessing that if I feel this way, other black folks do too, so cut us a break.


- To those who continue to claim that racism will never end until black people are given a level playing field in all areas of life, I would say this: Slavery is over, reparations are not coming. Yes, there are many people who do not want you to succeed, and there are many more who don't even care. But our collective history gives us many examples of those who succeeded in spite of the opposition, which by the way, will ALWAYS exist in some form. Here's a not-so-secret secret: Freedom from slavery doesn't mean that the former master is now obligated to pay for "services rendered' (as much as I wish it did). It doesn't grant the the slave a right to anything other than what freedom grants: freedom. It doesn't mean we must triumph over the former master to secure our new way of life. Freedom from slavery means only that there is no more master. Right or wrong, the field doesn't get any more level than this. It doesn't get any more fair than a Federal order to integrate public schools. Learn a lesson from the Little Rock Nine and take the field!


I put my kids on the bus this morning and thought for the first time about what it means that they can attend public school and have the opportunity to educate and better themselves. It's an impossible opportunity without people like Jefferson Thomas showing us how it's done.  


Yeah, Lady Liberty has a scarred face, blurred vision, and often walks with a limp, but she's still the best lookin' gal at the dance.


Stay grateful...