Josef Sorett

Josef Sorett is an Associate Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Columbia University, where he also directs the Center on African-American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice (CARSS). His first book, Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2016) illumines how religion has figured in debates about black art and culture across the 20th century. His writing and commentary have appeared in the Huffington Post, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, as well as on the BBC and NPR.

Archive, Books, Culture, RD10Q, RD10Q, Remapping American ChristianitiesMarch 7, 2017

Poets and Preachers: How Black Literature Blurs the Lines Between Sacred and Secular

By Josef Sorett

The first book from Columbia University’s Josef Sorett examines the religious roots of African American literary and cultural movements of the 20th Century.

Archive, Books, Remapping American ChristianitiesMarch 7, 2017

Religion and Gender Trouble in the Black Arts: Remembering Toni Cade Bambara’s The Black Woman

By Josef Sorett

An excerpt from Josef Sorett’s “Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics”

Guest BloggersJuly 16, 2010

Kanye West’s Critique of Prosperity Preaching

By Josef Sorett

The unknown history of “Jesus Walks.”

Books, CultureMay 24, 2010

Hip-Hop Religion and Spiritual Sampling in a “Post-Racial” Age

By Josef Sorett

A new book by an iconic rapper, the Wu Tang Clan’s RZA, told in the voice of a street sage, tells the story of his ascent from the mean streets of Brooklyn to the pinnacle of success, and shows him to be the quintessential postmodern American spiritual seeker.