The Cultural Soul Project’s ministry exists at the intersection of race, faith, hip-hop, and justice and falls within a rich stream of theological thought backed by thinkers and revolutionaries from all over the world. Prophetic and liberation theological traditions have historically given birth to expressions of Christianity that span from inner-city urban America, Latin America, and other places across the world where the gospel has engaged those “whose backs are against the wall.”¹ Moreover, it has provided a place within Christianity for those who have struggled against various forms of injustice and oppression across the lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, and other historically marginalized identities.

We center our theology on The Prophetic Gospel of Jesus Christ,² and we draw upon promises of the Prophetic Literature for “justice to flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”³ Jesus demonstrated his prophetic gospel by profound engagement with outcasts, critiquing the religious elite, and challenging the embedded class system of the day; He also embodied a prophetic gospel in his leadership and built his movement by giving power to those who were shaped by life on the margins and whose living bodies contested the very systems and structures of unjust power in society.

The Cultural Soul Project engages in a theological tradition that also centers the experiences of People who have been shaped by life on the margins, and we have a critique on any religious system that normalizes a theology that will care for the eternal soul but has no concern for the present condition of the body that the soul inhabits. Through an intellectual tradition, prophetic and liberation theology has been articulated best by James Cone, Gustavo Gutierrez, Kelly Brown Douglas, Delores S. Williams, and others; in the church tradition, it has been embodied by the work of the Black Power Statement of 1966 from the National Committee of Negro Churchmen, post-apartheid South Africa, base communities in Latin America following WWII, and Hell’s Kitchen, New York in the 1890s.

The Cultural Soul project joins a group of Christians from all over the world and across centuries who believe in the promise of God for all People; we are intentional about addressing the needs of People who have been shaped by life on the margins, and we are committed to transforming the structures in society that make it difficult for all People to live lives of meaning, being, and purpose. Through an innovative partnership with the progressive strands of the United Methodist Church, we are forming a new expression of what ministry looks like lived out in our society.

¹ Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
² The Prophetic Gospel of Christ, for us, is about transforming the soul through the power of the Holy Spirit and leading a life of purpose by following the principles, teachings, and actions of Jesus Christ.
³ Amos 5:24