Rebecca Denova
Rebecca Denova is a lecturer in religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pa., where she has taught a course called “Apocalypse Then and Now.”
Faith: Christianity
Bishop Terry Wiles
Bishop Terry Wiles is leader of Crossroads Community Cathedral in East Hartford, Conn. The church lists a literal belief in the Rapture as central to its members’ faith and membership.
“Christian Hip-Hop: The Future of Christian Music?”
Read a Jan 5, 2012 Christian Post article about Christian hiphop, its growing popularity and some churches’ hesitancy to accept the genre with open arms.
“Rappers Are Raising Their Churches’ Roofs”
Read a Sept. 13, 2004 New York Times article about the developing relationship between hiphop and Christianity.
“How Christian Hip-Hop Could Call the American Church Back to the Gospel–and Hip-Hop Back to Its Roots”
Read an April 21, 2013 Christianity Today article about how Christian hiphop might be another form of evangelical marketing.
“Why Christian Hip Hop Is Not a Failure”
Read a April 29, 2008 Patheos article in response to “The Failure of Christian Hip Hop.”
“Florida Church Leaders Preach Hip-Hop Style”
Read a June 17, 2013 article about the differentiation of traditional hiphop to Gospel hiphop and the positive messages the latter preaches.
Crawford Gribben
Crawford Gribben is a director of the Trinity Millennialism Project at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
“The music industry takes sales as gospel”
According to The Boston Globe’s Dec. 3, 2006, article Christian and gospel music is the one growing music category; sales in 2007 were up 11.6 percent. That popularity is recognized at conferences and music award ceremonies, where Christian rap or hiphop is increasingly included as a category.