New Edited Volume in R3 Book Series

The R3 book series is pleased to announce the publication of  Contemporary Christian Culture: Message, Mission, and Dilemmas edited by Omotayo O. Banjo and Kesha Morant Willimas.  Pre-order your copy today! 

About the Book:

Contemporary Christian Culture: Messages, Missions, and Dilemmas studies Christian media, its meanings, and its impact on social perceptions and lived experiences in a multicultural context and from within a communication framework. This interdisciplinary collection expands the dialogue surrounding race, culture, and Christian messages and provides a valuable resource for researchers, educators, and church practitioners who are interested in understanding how racial and cultural identity are impacted by religious media products.

Praise for the Book:

Contemporary Christian Culture: Messages, Missions, and Dilemmas is an important volume particularly at a time when our nation continues to wrestle with historical and contemporary implications of its original sin of racism. Omotayo Banjo and Kesha Morant Williams along with a robust group of scholars critically examine mediated messages and media ownership, production, and dissemination practices that illustrate a fluid understanding of race and the Christian faith. This volume brilliantly engages contemporary Christian discourses of race and diversity within the post-Obama and Black Lives Matter era in a meaningful way that makes it a must-read for scholars, religious leaders, and students.
— Christopher A. House, Ithaca College

Drs. Banjo and Williams have created a series of impressive works that use scholarship to explore the ways that Christians reconcile the scripture that charges them/us to be in this world, but not of it. The United States is a country whose perceived Christian identity is currently being challenged due to its current tumultuous political climate. The difficult questions forwarded in each chapter challenge the reader to understand how various situations and circumstances prompt Christians to confront situations that test the very essence of the ethics, morality, and humanity tied to Christian ideology. This is a great resource addressing a very important social issue that has persisted through the ages.
— Tina M. Harris, University of Georgia

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Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chapter 1: Christianity and Race in Political Discourse: The Case of Barack Obama
Kevin Coe 
Chapter 2: Facing the Crowd: An Oral History Gospel Performance as Social Messaging
Nathaniel Frederick II
Chapter 3: The Constitution of a “Moral Issue” through Media Representations in Christian Newspapers: Implications for Race, Class, and Gender
Joshua F. Hoops 
Chapter 4: Segregating the Dial: Institutional Racism in Evangelical Radio
Mark Ward Sr.
Chapter 5: Behind the Music: Exploring Audiences’ Attitudes toward Gospel and
Contemporary Christian Music
Omotayo O. Banjo and Kesha Morant Williams
Chapter 6: The Multicultural Church: A Challenge for the Black Church
Phyllis Welch-Johnson and Kenya N. Washington Johnson 
Chapter 7: Coming Up the Rough Side of the Mountain: Building a Multicultural Church in a US Southern Mill Town
Damion Waymer and Rodney Cripps
Chapter 8: Jesus and His Multi-Ethnic Bride: A Case Study of Organizational Identification and Unity Among Believers
Joel M. Solomon
Chapter 9: Coptic Ethnoracial Identity and Liturgical Language Use
Nicholas Ragheb
Chapter 10: Promoting Transcultural Musical Interactions at Grahamstown Cathedral: An Analysis of Some Recent Experiences
Andrew John Bethke
Chapter 11: How Great is Our God—Multicultural Worship as a reflection of Contemporary Diversity Discourse
Oneya Okuwobi 

About the book editors:

Omotayo Banjo, PhD  focuses on representation and audience responses to racial and cultural media. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Communication Theory, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Media and Religion, and Race and Social Problems. She has also presented her research at regional, national and international conferences which include the International Communication Association, National Communication Association, Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, and the Collegium for African-American Research.  Dr. Banjo teaches courses related to media theory, identity, and race. She is also an affiliate faculty of Africana Studies, Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, and Journalism.

Dr. Kesha Morant Williams, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences. She teaches courses including research methods, interpersonal, group, family and health communication. Her research interest focuses on interpersonal relationships, health communication and popular media examined through a cultural lens. She is also interested in African American communication, pro-social and anti-social behaviors, decision making, and entertainment-education. Her research has been published in Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Black Studies, Howard Journal of Communications, Journal of Media and Religion and (forthcoming) the book Inter/Cultural Communication: Representation and construction of culture in everyday interaction.

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