Rhetoric Race and Religion
Welcome to Rhetoric, Race, and Religion, the blog that examines these and other cultural intersections that play a huge importance in our lives. The phrase, “Rhetoric, Race and Religion” encompasses my entire research agenda and pastoral ministry and will be a place to house all of my work, ideas, thoughts and sometimes my laments as I continue to discern God’s call for me in this season of my life. In addition, this site will also be a place where we engage in public debates about theology and how rhetoric shapes and constructs our theological outlook. However, a little about me….
I serve in the department of Christianity and Culture as the Dr. James L Netters Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Religion and African American Studies at Memphis Theological Seminary. I teach classes in contextualized ministry, prophetic rhetoric, black church, African American theology, rhetoric and religion, pulpit rhetoric, race, and hip hop theology. In addition to my work at Memphis Theology Seminary, I also serve as an instructor in Communications and African American Studies at the University of Memphis. Along with my academic titles, I am currently Senior Pastor of Gifts of Life Ministries an inner city church built upon the servant leadership philosophy and is married to a wonderful wife—Lisa Jones Johnson.
I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and after graduation; I attended the University of Tennessee at Martin where I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Communications. I graduated from Memphis Theological Seminary where I took the Masters of Divinity degree and I completed my Doctor of Philosophy degree in Communications at the University of Memphis. My dissertation, The Prophetic Oratory of Henry McNeal Turner, was under the direction of Michael C. Leff. I am currently editing the works of Henry McNeal Turner under the title The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner. The first volume, An African American Pastor Before and During the American Civil War was published in 2010 and the second one, The Chaplain Letters, is due for publication in November 2011. The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner is part of a 12 volume series I have with Edwin Mellen Press.
In addition to my collecting of Turner writings, I have just completed a rhetorical biography on Turner titled The Forgotten Prophet: The Prophetic Rhetoric of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, due spring 2012 from Lexington Books. I am also is editing a collection of essays on hip hop and spirituality titled, Urban God Talk: Rap, Religion, and a Spirituality of Hip Hop also with Lexington Books.
I have presented academic papers at national, regional, and state conferences winning awards at each level and have published essays in the Memphis Theological Seminary Journal and the Black Theology Journal. I currently serve as the second vice chair of the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association and holds membership in several national, regional and state Associations in the areas of Communication, African American and Religious Studies.
In addition to what many consider groundbreaking work on Bishop Turner, I try to maintain an eclectic research agenda. Ongoing research projects explore the nexus between rhetoric, theology and the Bible, urban ministry and theology, religion and politics, the religious rhetoric of Barack Obama, and religion and media.
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