The Cultural Soul Project is rooted in the Black Prophetic Imagination. This means we are intentional about putting Blackness, the historical development of the Black Church, Liberation Theology, and Hip-Hop Culture in a symbiotic relationship to imagine a possibility for ministry, community, and cultural work for all People who have been shaped by life on the margins.

The Cultural Soul Project fundamentally understands Blackness as a lived experience, lived reality, cultural sensibility, and cultural lens that People who self-identify as Black draw upon to respond to, relate to, and make sense of the world. We acknowledge that, historically, Blackness has always been on a quest for social dignity, social decency, and self-respect, so we submit that at its highest prophetic frequency and vibration, The Black Prophetic Imagination can be the perennial cultural response to injustice, asserting that justice is for everyone. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (MLK)

The Cultural Soul Project also views Blackness as a dialectic and a metaphor. For us, Blackness is a dialectic because we put it in juxtaposition or relationship with things some may view as having conflicting ideas or perspectives (e.g., the way we put Hip-Hop Culture in relationship with the Church). And for us, Blackness is also a metaphor because we use it as a figure of speech and ideal to sometimes represent other matters (e.g., the way we use Blackness to represent the experiences of People who have been shaped by life on the margins and are in pursuit of righteousness, justice, and building and sustaining a Beloved Community for all People).

The Cultural Soul Project is constantly praying, reflecting, and exploring ways our interpretation of the Black Prophetic Imagination can have progressive implications on the Church, Liberation Theology, and our very own Prophetic Hip-Hop Theory. We strive to be a catalyst for social, cultural, and spiritual transformation, while simultaneously creating a Church space where every individual has mutual worth and value.

The Cultural Soul Project brings forth a lens of visibility to “the circumstances under which tragic People struggle,”¹ and our critique on society moves beyond individual suffering and is also concerned about how systems and structures in our society produce and reinforce “social misery.”² As such, we address the current reality, situation, predicament, and contemporary moment in terms of what it can and should be, as opposed to only allowing the present context to dictate or inform our actions or responses to it.

The Cultural Soul Project believes The Prophetic Gospel of Christ is about transforming the soul through the power of the Holy Spirit and leading a life of purpose by following the teachings, principles, and actions of Jesus Christ.

¹ Cornel West, Black Prophetic Fire
² J. Kameron Carter, Post Racial Blues