Interweaving academic theory, (auto)ethnography, and memoir-styled narrative, Christopher M. Driscoll explores what the "white devil" trope means for understanding and responding to tensions emerging from toxic white masculinity. The book provides a historical and philosophical account of the "white devil" as it appears in the stories and myths of various black religious and philosophical traditions, particularly as these traditions are expressed through the contemporary cultural expression of hip-hop. Driscoll argues that the trope of the white devil emerges from a self-hatred in many white men that is concealed (and revealed) through various defence mechanisms - principally, anger - and the book provides rich ground to discuss the relationship between perceptions of self (i.e. who we are), emotional regulation, and our behaviour towards others (i.e. how we act).

Kendrick Lamar has established himself at the forefront of contemporary hip-hop culture. Artistically adventurous and socially conscious, he has been unapologetic in using his art form, rap music, to address issues affecting black lives while also exploring subjects fundamental to the human experience, such as religious belief. This book is the first to provide an interdisciplinary academic analysis of the impact of Lamar's corpus. In doing so, it highlights how Lamar's music reflects current tensions that are keenly felt when dealing with the subjects of race, religion and politics. Starting with Section 80 and ending with DAMN., this book deals with each of Lamar's four major projects in turn. A panel of academics, journalists and hip-hop practitioners show how religion, in particular black spiritualties, take a front-and-center role in his work. They also observe that his astute and biting thoughts on race and culture may come from an African American perspective, but many find something familiar in Lamar's lyrical testimony across great chasms of social and geographical difference. This sophisticated exploration of one of popular culture's emerging icons reveals a complex and multi faceted engagement with religion, faith, race, art and culture. As such, it will be vital reading for anyone working in religious, African American and hip-hop studies, as well as scholars of music, media and popular culture.

Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion emphasizes the inexorable influence that social identities exert in shaping methodological choices within the academic study of religion, as witnessed in sui generis appeals to particularity and reliance on (or rejection of) identity-based standpoints. Can data speak back, and if so, would scholars have ears to listen? With a refreshing hip hop sensibility, Miller and Driscoll argue that what cultural theorist Jean-Francois Bayart refers to as a "battle for identity" forces a necessary confrontation with the (impact of) social identities (and, their histories) haunting our fields of study. These complex categorical specters make it nearly impossible to untether the categories of identity that we come to study from the identity of categories shaping our methodological lenses. Treating method as an identity-revealing technique of distance-making between the "proper" scholar and the less-than-scholarly advocate for religion, Miller and Driscoll examine a variety of discursive milieus of vagueness (consider for instance "essentialism," "origins," "authenticity") at work in the contemporary discussion of "critical" methods that lack the necessary specificity for doing the heavy-lifting of analytically handling the asymmetrical dimensions of power part and parcel to social identification. Through interdisciplinary discussions that draw on thinkers including Charles H Long, Bruce Lincoln, Russell T. McCutcheon, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida, C. Wright Mills, Laurel C. Schneider, William D. Hart, Tomoko Masuzawa, Anthony B. Pinn, bell hooks, Roderick Ferguson, John L. Jackson, Jasbir Puar, and Jean-Francois Bayart, among others, Method as Identity intentionally blurs the lines classifying "proper" scholarly approach and proper "objects" of study. With an intentional effort to challenge the de facto disciplinary segregation marking the field and study of religion today, Method as Identity will be of interest to scholars involved in discussions about theory and method for the study of religion, and especially researchers working at the intersections of identity, difference, and classification-and the politics thereof.

White Lies considers African-American bodies as the site of cultural debates over a contested "white religion" in the United States. Rooting his analysis in the work of W.E.B. DuBois and James Baldwin, Christopher Driscoll traces the shifting definitions of "white religion" from the nineteenth century up to the death of Michael Brown and other racial controversies of the present day. He engages both modern philosophers and popular imagery to isolate the instabilities central to a "white religion," including the inadequacy of this framing concept as a way of describing and processing death. The book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in African-American Religion, philosophy and race, and Whiteness Studies.

Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion emphasizes the inexorable influence that social identities exert in shaping methodological choices within the academic study of religion, as witnessed in sui generis appeals to particularity and reliance on (or rejection of) identity-based standpoints. Can data speak back, and if so, would scholars have ears to listen? With a refreshing hip hop sensibility, Miller and Driscoll argue that what cultural theorist Jean-Francois Bayart refers to as a "battle for identity" forces a necessary confrontation with the (impact of) social identities (and, their histories) haunting our fields of study. These complex categorical specters make it nearly impossible to untether the categories of identity that we come to study from the identity of categories shaping our methodological lenses. Treating method as an identity-revealing technique of distance-making between the "proper" scholar and the less-than-scholarly advocate for religion, Miller and Driscoll examine a variety of discursive milieus of vagueness (consider for instance "essentialism," "origins," "authenticity") at work in the contemporary discussion of "critical" methods that lack the necessary specificity for doing the heavy-lifting of analytically handling the asymmetrical dimensions of power part and parcel to social identification. Through interdisciplinary discussions that draw on thinkers including Charles H Long, Bruce Lincoln, Russell T. McCutcheon, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida, C. Wright Mills, Laurel C. Schneider, William D. Hart, Tomoko Masuzawa, Anthony B. Pinn, bell hooks, Roderick Ferguson, John L. Jackson, Jasbir Puar, and Jean-Francois Bayart, among others, Method as Identity intentionally blurs the lines classifying "proper" scholarly approach and proper "objects" of study. With an intentional effort to challenge the de facto disciplinary segregation marking the field and study of religion today, Method as Identity will be of interest to scholars involved in discussions about theory and method for the study of religion, and especially researchers working at the intersections of identity, difference, and classification-and the politics thereof.

White Lies considers African-American bodies as the site of cultural debates over a contested "white religion" in the United States. Rooting his analysis in the work of W.E.B. DuBois and James Baldwin, Christopher Driscoll traces the shifting definitions of "white religion" from the nineteenth century up to the death of Michael Brown and other racial controversies of the present day. He engages both modern philosophers and popular imagery to isolate the instabilities central to a "white religion," including the inadequacy of this framing concept as a way of describing and processing death. The book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in African-American Religion, philosophy and race, and Whiteness Studies.

Kendrick Lamar has established himself at the forefront of contemporary hip-hop culture. Artistically adventurous and socially conscious, he has been unapologetic in using his art form, rap music, to address issues affecting black lives while also exploring subjects fundamental to the human experience, such as religious belief. This book is the first to provide an interdisciplinary academic analysis of the impact of Lamar's corpus. In doing so, it highlights how Lamar's music reflects current tensions that are keenly felt when dealing with the subjects of race, religion and politics. Starting with Section 80 and ending with DAMN., this book deals with each of Lamar's four major projects in turn. A panel of academics, journalists and hip-hop practitioners show how religion, in particular black spiritualties, take a front-and-center role in his work. They also observe that his astute and biting thoughts on race and culture may come from an African American perspective, but many find something familiar in Lamar's lyrical testimony across great chasms of social and geographical difference. This sophisticated exploration of one of popular culture's emerging icons reveals a complex and multi faceted engagement with religion, faith, race, art and culture. As such, it will be vital reading for anyone working in religious, African American and hip-hop studies, as well as scholars of music, media and popular culture.

Interweaving academic theory, (auto)ethnography, and memoir-styled narrative, Christopher M. Driscoll explores what the "white devil" trope means for understanding and responding to tensions emerging from toxic white masculinity. The book provides a historical and philosophical account of the "white devil" as it appears in the stories and myths of various black religious and philosophical traditions, particularly as these traditions are expressed through the contemporary cultural expression of hip-hop. Driscoll argues that the trope of the white devil emerges from a self-hatred in many white men that is concealed (and revealed) through various defence mechanisms - principally, anger - and the book provides rich ground to discuss the relationship between perceptions of self (i.e. who we are), emotional regulation, and our behaviour towards others (i.e. how we act).