{"id":1417,"date":"2013-05-20T19:05:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/kanye-wests-yeezus-tribute-or-travesty.html"},"modified":"2013-05-20T19:05:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T19:05:00","slug":"kanye-wests-yeezus-tribute-or-travesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/kanye-wests-yeezus-tribute-or-travesty.html","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West\u2019s \u2018Yeezus\u2019: Tribute or Travesty?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Kanye West\u2019s\u00a0new album<\/a>, available June 18, is expected to be called \u201cYeezus.\u201d The title may be a riff on the artist\u2019s nickname, \u201cYeezy\u201d, but it is certainly a play on the name Jesus as well, and will certainly raise questions as a result.\u00a0 Is this title a tribute or a travesty?<\/div>\n
As a rabbi who is endlessly fascinated by the historical character called Jesus, and genuinely moved by some of the teachings attributed to him in the New Testament, I remain calm as these questions begin to swirl as whatever I think about Jesus and his story, he is not a divine figure for me.\u00a0 That said, the place of faith in popular culture, even other peoples\u2019 faith, affects us all regardless of what faith or even no-faith we follow.<\/div>\n
We have to wonder, is this artist\u2019s work a tribute to Jesus, or is it irreverent to the point of being offensive?\u00a0 Could it actually be a bit of both?\u00a0 Could it be that what borders on the offensive, or even crosses the border, for some, is actually a deeply spiritual message for others?<\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kanye West\u2019s\u00a0new album, available June 18, is expected to be called \u201cYeezus.\u201d The title may be a riff on the artist\u2019s nickname, \u201cYeezy\u201d, but it is certainly a play on the name Jesus as well, and will certainly raise questions as a result.\u00a0 Is this title a tribute or a travesty? As a rabbi who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nKanye West\u2019s \u2018Yeezus\u2019: Tribute or Travesty?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kanye West\u2019s new album, available June 18, is expected to be called \u201cYeezus.\u201d The title may be a riff on the artist\u2019s nickname, \u201cYeezy\u201d, but it is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/kanye-wests-yeezus-tribute-or-travesty.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kanye West\u2019s \u2018Yeezus\u2019: Tribute or Travesty?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kanye West\u2019s new album, available June 18, is expected to be called \u201cYeezus.\u201d The title may be a riff on the artist\u2019s nickname, \u201cYeezy\u201d, but it is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/kanye-wests-yeezus-tribute-or-travesty.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-20T19:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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