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In October, The biennial Hanson lecture featured Claudrena N. Harold in conversation with Dr. Wallace Best, Hughes-Rogers Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. Established in 2000 by the Association of Black Seminarians, the Hanson Lecture honors Dr. Geddes Hanson, Princeton Seminary’s Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Congregational Ministry Emeritus, and the first African American to achieve tenure on the Seminary faculty.
Dr. Harold, the Edward Stettinius Professor of History and Associate Dean for the Social Sciences at the University of Virginia, is an accomplished scholar and filmmaker. She has authored three books and co-directed eleven short films, advancing the narrative of African American history and community at the University of Virginia. During the lecture, she explored the Theo-politics of gospel music, emphasizing how its leading voices addressed pressing social issues such as poverty, racial inequality, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, wars, political corruption, incompetence, and authoritarianism.
Dr. Harold’s book, When Sunday Comes: Gospel in the Soul and Hip Hop Eras, explores the evolution of gospel music and its profound impact on the African American community. Her insight pointed to how Gospel artists of the past shared Dr. Hanson’s belief “that the working out of our freedom as Christians is directly in proportion to our willingness to prayerfully and faithfully seek ways to create out of the etiquette of our lives a weapon for the enrichment of the lives of others.” This topic hits close to home for Dr. Harold as she shared how gospel music shaped her faith, and political views.
Illustrating the ways in which gospel music transcends borders, Dr. Harold highlighted the work of legends like Shirley Caesar, The Rance Allen Group, Kirk Franklin, The Winans, and Aretha Franklin. Their songs often extended beyond the church, aiding healing, community building, and informing African American political identity.
Attendees and current students Tawni Floyd-White, MTE ’25, and Damion Parran, Mdiv third year, shared their takeaways from the lecture and personal notes on the effect of Gospel music on their lives. On if musicians and the music industry are still responding to societal issues of our time, White says
I think music is still responding to the societal issues of our time, unfortunately, the music that is responding is not popular right now. So I think if you’re able to look further into whatever genre you’re interested in you’ll find some of those undertones of the revolutionary things that she (Harold) was talking about.
For Parran, Harold’s latest book guides us through the change in responses. “What Dr. Harold has done with her book is really help us to re-look at how gospel music specifically has developed over the last 30, 40, 50 years. Sometimes, in our generation, we forget that there were folks before us who created the sound that established the way we listen to music today. And I really appreciate the fact that she was able to bring us back to the past while making the music still relevant in the present. What we listen to and the history behind it is very important because we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, whether in theology, music, art, everything. If we don’t allow ourselves to look back while looking forward, we miss out on the true richness of what we have and what we’ve been left with today.”
Both students shared how gospel music continues to shape their lives and influence their theological thinking today. “I’m a big proponent of old school gospel; I love Mahalia Jackson, Shirley Caesar, and Clara Ward; I really believe that that was the type of Gospel music that helped form me and my theology. Sometimes, it is difficult to hear the new gospel music. But it also helps me to appreciate both the past and the present because it continues to form my theology, even today,” says Parran.
For White, traditional gospel music was essential to her upbringing and formation. “The old school, traditional gospel music was more so the soundtrack of my youth. Even as a child and going to church on a regular basis, what I may not have understood ( in sermons), I could experience and feel through the music and the words of the song, and through learning the lyrics. As an adult, I am able to go back and take a deeper look at those lyrics and understand how they translate for today.”
On whether there is a responsibility for artists and music in general to respond to today’s societal issues, Parran highlights the need for a response.
I think it’s crucial, I think that just as the gospel artists of yesterday talked about oppression and segregation and all the issues that really plagued the Black community, I think its important today, because some of those issues, still plague us. Not just talking about it, but also giving us some hope. Hope is very important, and I think that’s what the music gave us in the past and that’s what it gives us today as well. That we can still have hope in Christ, in God to rescue us from whatever ills that are going on around us in our communities.
“I think it’s the responsibilities not just of the musical artists but of anyone who has the attention of the collective or any demographic to bring forth the word of God and particularly in Gospel music since that is basically what they stand on,” adds White.
The students also praised the artists they feel have responded to the societal issues of our time. “I am very much partial to CeCe Winans, as an African American woman,” White continues. “I feel like she tells my story. I feel like she tells my hardships and the other women that look like me. And also because she did a whole album on emotional healing. And particularly for the African American community and the African American woman, that is where our connection is with God and with the word of God, it’s finding the healing in the text.”
Personal experience connects Parran to the artist currently making change in his eyes. “For me its an artist by the name of Erica Mason. She came out with an album called ‘Queer Christian’. And it was really amazing to hear a young Black woman speak about her queerness in Gospel music. While at the same time celebrating her relationship with Christ. I’ve listened to it over and over again, because as a person who exists within that community, I’m not used to hearing queer topics and issues in Gospel or Christian music, so I find it very helpful.”
Learn more about Claudrena N. Harold and check out her books at the Princeton Seminary Library. Watch Dr. Harold’s lecture below.
