#NEW AMERICAN GOSPEL

[tomb-mold]

IM SAILING

[onlyhurtforaminute]

LAMB OF GOD-IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED

[triplethreat77]

I was on an abnormally high level of "I need to flush this brain" today so I revisited New American Gospel by Lamb of God which isn't possibly loud enough on any phone or headset, therefore I reset in my car. I adjusted the eqs and rattled my body for a bit to ultimately decide that even with the highest volume, crushing bass, and ideal balance - I still wasn't fully meditative. I have access to a recording and production studio, so let's fucking go. Crank that PA just short of red on the track "The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion", while my eyes twitch under my eyelids long enough for the exorcism to be under control for now. Jesus fucking christ, good luck making me breakfast in the morning.

[stargazer333]

[artandthebible]

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ

Artist: John La Farge  (American, 1835–1910) 

Genre: Religious Art

Date: 1880

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Nicodemus Visiting Jesus was inspired by the Gospel of John, 3:1-21. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Beatitudes

3 God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven!

4 God blesses those people who grieve. They will find comfort!

5 God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them!

6 God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want!

7 God blesses those people who are merciful. They will be treated with mercy!

8 God blesses those people whose hearts are pure. They will see him!

9 God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children!

10 God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.

11 God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. — Matthew 5:3-11 | Contemporary English Version (CEV) Contemporary English Version Bible © 1995 by American Bible Society Cross References: 2 Samuel 17:28; 2 Samuel 22:26; Psalm 25:13; Psalm 63:1; Psalm 107:9; Isaiah 29:19; Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 6:20; John 16:20; John 19:26; Hebrews 12:14; James 3:17; 1 Peter 4:14

Read full chapter

The Sermon on the Mount

[lionofchaeronea]

Christ on the Road to Emmaus, unknown American artist, ca. 1725-30

[jesusislord3333]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Hold Jesus Liable To Arrest As Radical,” Toronto Star. October 20, 1932. Page 3. ---- Could Be Charged With Sedition, Anarchy, Religion and Labor Body Says ---- New Haven, Conn., Oct. 20 - The National Religion and Labor Foundation, organized by leading Jews, Catholics and Protestants to arouse the interest of the church in improving labor’s status, announced in its first bulletin to-day a ‘Reward - for information leading to the apprehension of Jesus Christ.’

Under a pen and ink sketch of Jesus, there appears the following:

‘Wanted - For sedition, criminal anarchy, vagrancy, and conspiring to overthrow the established government.

‘Dresses poorly, said to be a carpenter by trade, ill-nourished, has visionary ideas, associates with common working people, the unemployed, and bums. Alien - believed to be a Jew - alias ‘Prince of Peace,’ ‘Son of Man,’ ‘Light of the World,’ etc. Professional agitator, red beard, marks on hand and feet the result of injuries inflicted by an angry mob led by respectable citizens and legal authorities.’

The bulletin contains a letter from Tom Mooney serving life in San Quentin prison, California, in connection with the 1916 preparedness day bombing in San Francisco, addressed to Professor Jerome Davis of Yale, one of the foundation’s leaders, appealing for financial assistance to enable his defence to investigate the alleged confession of Paul Callicotta of Portland, Ore.

‘We desperately need a reawakening of the flaming social righteousness of the prophets of old,’ says a communication signed by Davis, Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Edward Israel, Allen K. Chalmers and John A. Lapp.

[AL: The National Religion and Labor Foundation is still around!]

[mydailyvintagephotos]

Remembering Mahalia Jackson 🌹🕊on her Birthday 🎂

[africanamericanreports]

Tennessee State University’s Aristocrat of Bands (AOB) has been nominated for a Grammy for their album The Urban Hymnal in the Best Roots Gospel Album category.

[cruelsister-moved2]

I think people have confused the fact that it's definitely possible to go "look this magical guy told me these are the rules so now you all have to obey" with believing that religion is intrinsically just that. and it's like they just discount the possibility that anyone has ever earnestly believed in a higher authority or genuinely had a mystical experience or whatever. the thing is if you actually observe how religious people behave, especially if you look outside of like evangelical megachurch pastors who are clearly just grifting, it immediately becomes pretty hard to ignore that.

for every example of religion maintaining inequality u have muslim charities successfully preventing FGM by informing muslim communities who perpetrate it that it's haram, sikhs opposing casteism, early christians fighting gender inequality etc etc etc + on an individual level literally countless people who have fought against poverty and oppression on the basis of religious belief. like... IS it really something specific about religion or is it the fact that hegemony will naturally pick up and spread whatever supports it and suppress whatever doesn't?because the same can also be said of like... music... so are u going to say music is just a tool of the elite or whatever? bc it definitely can be. but it's equally a tool for resisting oppression and also just a significant part of the human experience.

aren't we meant to be postmodernists now like i think maybe things sometimes do just happen sometimes. what Society does with it after the fact is another question, but if you look at the history of religion I'm surprised if you don't come away with some awareness that genuine belief in some sort of authority or mechanism which is outside of human control can be something very transformative. like the fundamental innovation of the torah was to say that every human life is equal to every other human life in opposition to the code of hammurabi which said that some people's life = other people's pocket change. only a power which comes from somewhere outside human society would be able to ensure that law was applied fairly and equally to all rather than manipulated on the whim of the human with the most power to enforce it. if the "abrahamic" religions can be said to have anything in common at all, it's probably a call to humbleness and the value of every human being. much to think about!!!!

[tomb-mold]

whenever i listen to burn the priest or new american gospel i think damn, lamb of god should do another album like this. and then i remember that legion xx exists, they literally already did

[jadenvargen]

free online james baldwin stories, essays, videos, and other resources

**edit

James baldwin online archive with his articles and photo archives.

---NOVELS---

Giovanni's room"When David meets the sensual Giovanni in a bohemian bar, he is swept into a passionate love affair. But his girlfriend's return to Paris destroys everything. Unable to admit to the truth, David pretends the liaison never happened - while Giovanni's life descends into tragedy. This book introduces love's fascinating possibilities and extremities."

Go Tell It On The Mountain"(...)Baldwin's first major work, a semi-autobiographical novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves."

+bonus: film adaptation on youtube. (if you’re a giancarlo esposito fan, you’ll be delighted to see him in an early preacher role)

Another Country and Going to Meet the Man Another country: "James Baldwin's masterly story of desire, hatred and violence opens with the unforgettable character of Rufus Scott, a scavenging Harlem jazz musician adrift in New York. Self-destructive, bad and brilliant, he draws us into a Bohemian underworld pulsing with heat, music and sex, where desperate and dangerous characters betray, love and test each other to the limit." Going to meet the Man: " collection of eight short stories by American writer James Baldwin. The book, dedicated "for Beauford Delaney", covers many topics related to anti-Black racism in American society, as well as African-American–Jewish relations, childhood, the creative process, criminal justice, drug addiction, family relationships, jazz, lynching, sexuality, and white supremacy."

Just Above My Head"Here, in a monumental saga of love and rage, Baldwin goes back to Harlem, to the church of his groundbreaking novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, to the homosexual passion of Giovanni's Room, and to the political fire that enflames his nonfiction work. Here, too, the story of gospel singer Arthur Hall and his family becomes both a journey into another country of the soul and senses--and a living contemporary history of black struggle in this land."

If Beale Street Could Talk"Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions-affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche."

also has a film adaptation by moonlight's barry jenkins

Tell Me How Long the Train's been gone At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, Baldwin shows the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable. For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the intoxicating world of the theater lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. An adored older brother vanishes into prison. There are love affairs with a white woman and a younger black man, each of whom will make irresistible claims on Leo's loyalty. 

---ESSAYS---

Baldwin essay collection. Including most famously: notes of a native son, nobody knows my name, the fire next time, no name in the street, the devil finds work- baldwin on film

--DOCUMENTARIES--

Take this hammer, a tour of san Francisco.

Meeting the man

--DEBATES:--

Debate with Malcolm x, 1963 ( on integration, the nation of islam, and other topics. )

Debate with William Buckley, 1965. ( historic debate in america. )

Heavily moderated debate with Malcolm x, Charles Eric Lincoln, and Samuel Schyle 1961. (Primarily Malcolm X's debate on behalf of the nation of islam, with Baldwin giving occassional inputs.)

----

apart from themes obvious in the book's descriptions, a general heads up for themes of incest and sexual assault throughout his works.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Madonna - Like a Prayer 1989

"Like a Prayer" is a song by American singer Madonna and was released as the lead single from her 1989 fourth studio album of the same name. Written and produced by both Madonna and Patrick Leonard, the song heralded an artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who believed that she needed to cater more to her adult audience. Along with the parent album, "Like a Prayer" was a turning point in Madonna's career, with critics starting to acknowledge her as an artist rather than a mere pop star.

"Like a Prayer" is a pop rock and gospel song that also incorporates elements of funk. The lyrics contain liturgical words, but they have been interpreted by some people to have dual meanings of sexual innuendo and religion. "Like a Prayer" was acclaimed by music critics upon release and was a global commercial success, becoming Madonna's seventh number 1 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, topping the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks and also topping the charts in many other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain and the UK. It was Madonna's fifth number 1 hit on the Eurochart Hot 100, and stayed at number one for 12 weeks.

The accompanying music video for "Like a Prayer", directed by Mary Lambert, shows a white woman being sexually assaulted and subsequently killed by a group of white men, but a black man is arrested for the crime. The video depicts a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata. It also features the Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses and a dream sequence about kissing a black saint. Leon Robinson was hired to play the role of a saint; the part was inspired by Martin de Porres, the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested against its broadcast. They boycotted products by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, who had used the song in their commercial. Pepsi canceled their sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to retain the $5 million fee.

While most TV stations banned the music video, MTV notably continued to air the video on heavy rotation. The controversies leading to her "Like a Prayer" video introduced the concept of free publicity and became a turning point where Madonna was viewed as a shrewd businesswoman who knows how to sell a concept. At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for "Like a Prayer" was nominated in the Viewer's Choice and Video of the Year categories, winning the former. It was number one on MTV's countdown of "100 Videos That Broke the Rules" in 2005, and for the channel's 25th anniversary, viewers voted it as the "Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time". In addition, the video was ranked at number 20 on Rolling Stone's "The 100 Top Music Videos", and at number two on VH1's 100 Greatest Videos. In a 2011 poll by Billboard, the video for "Like a Prayer" was voted the second-best music video of the 1980s, behind only Michael Jackson's "Thriller". According to Screen Rant, "Like a Prayer" is one of the most used Madonna's songs in movies and television, most recently notably featured in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.

"Like a Prayer" received a total of 87,9% yes votes! Previous Madonna polls: #18 "Who's That Girl", #184 "Live to Tell".

[spacelazarwolf]

i have so much love for american jewish music. from jewish bluegrass to kosher gospel it truly showcases the way jews in america have found ways to celebrate both our jewishness and the cultures we’ve become a part of, exactly the same way so many jewish communities across the world have for hundreds or even thousands of years. i think people forget that because we’re living in the here and now when these genres are still new. but i home someday they’re seen with the same legitimacy as older jewish music is.