"In its comparative and dialogical approach, "Creating Ourselves" provides a model for the kind of scholarly work in which we might engage across the humanities. It also makes an important contribution to the popular culture studies, a field that is rarely in conversation with scholars of religion and theology."--Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of "If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday"

Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 1Part One. Thinking About Religion and CultureCultural Production and New Terrain: Theology, Popular Culture, and the Cartography of Religion / Anthony B. Pinn 13Benjamín Valentín's Response 34Tracings: Sketching the Cultural Geographies of Latino and Latina Theology / Benjamín Valentín 38Anthony B. Pinn's Response 62Part Two. Constructing Bodies and RepresentationMemory of Flesh: Theological Reflections on Word and Flesh / Mayra Rivera 69Traci C. West's Response 90Using Women: Racist Representation and Cross-Racial Ethics / Traci C. West 95Mayra Rivera's Response 114Part Three. Literature and ReligionThis Day in Paradise: The Search for Human Fulfillment in Toni Morrison's Paradise / James H. Evans Jr. 119Teresa Delgado's Response 133Freedom is Our Own: Toward a Puerto Rican Emancipation Theology / Teresa Delgado 138James H. Evans Jr.'s Response 173Part Four. Music and ReligionThe Browning of Theological Thought in Hip-Hop Generation / Alexa Nava 181Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan's Response 199The Theo-poetic Theological Ethics of Lauryn Hill and Tupac Shakur / Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan 204Alex Nava's Response 224Part Five. Television and ReligionTV "Profits": An Examination of the Electronic Church Phenomenon and Its Impact on Intellectual Activity within African American Religious Practices / Jonathan Walton 231Joseph De León's Response 249Telenovelas and Transcendence: Social Dramas as Theological Theater / Joseph De León 253Jonathan Walton's Response 271Part Six. Visual Arts and ReligionTheology as Imaginative Construction: An Analysis of The Work of Three Latina Artists / Suzanne E. Hoeferkamp Segovia 277Sheila F. Winborne's Response 302The Theological Significance of Normative Preferences in Visual Art Creation and Interpretation / Sheila F. Winborne 306Suzanne E. Hoerferkamp Segovia's Sresponse 331Part Seven. Food and ReligionShe Put Her Foot in the Pot: Table Fellowship as a Practice of Political Activism / Lynne Westfield 339Angel F. Méndez Montoya's Response 356The Making of Mexican Mole and Alimentary Theology in the Making / Angel F. Méndez Montoya 360Lynne Westfield's Response 384Bibliography 387Contributors 405Index 409