Conversations on Humanity and Creativity

How does hip hop relate to religion, what does it tell us about the human desire for meaning? What do the visual arts tell us about our quest for place, human connection, and for a sense of meaning that includes but also transcends the mundane? This open access book brings together secular and religious scholars, artists, and activists, to explore topics such as race, gender, class, AI and racial injustice. Based on the assumption that dialogue produces a much richer understanding of human activity than monologues, this book reveals the common ground in experiences and meaning-making through culture, art and beauty.

Bracketing the theological-philosophical debate over who is right-theists or nontheists-this book looks at the work and aims of the people supporting either position, and how we make meaning in a time of increasing division.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by William Marsh Rice University

Anthony B. Pinn is currently the Agnes Cullen Arnold Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Professor of religion at Rice University, USA. Pinn is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa. Pinn is the founding director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning at Rice University. He is also Director of Research for the Institute for Humanist Studies - a Washington, DC-based think tank. Pinn’s research interests include religion and culture; black religious thought; humanism; and, hip hop culture.