Robert Beckford – författare

Contemporary dominant models of masculinity in Britain are often toxic, highly damaging to both men under pressure to embody them, and women who are subject to oppression, marginalization and abuse because of the gender hierarchies and assumptions such models encourage. Despite growing awareness of the negative impact of such models theologians and churches have so far failed to address critically how theological beliefs and faith practices contribute to toxic masculinity, and what they might need to do to enable the transformation of understandings and practices of masculinity. Behold the Men offers a vital introductory text for those looking to reflect on the ways in which masculinity has been imagined and informed by Christianity. Drawing together a diverse range of scholars, the chapters together ask how toxic models of masculinity might be challenged by Christian theological resources. As a whole the book seeks to offer a range of critical, transformative, healthy, faithful models of masculinity, which engage with Christian traditions.Blogpost: An interview with Robert Beckford and Rachel Starr

Robert Beckford explores the dialogue between two central institutions in African Caribbean life: the church and the dancehall. He highlights how Dub – one of the central features of dancehall culture – can be mobilized as a framework for re-evaluating theology, taking apart doctrine and reconstructing it under the influence of a guiding theme.Engaging with the social and cultural heritage that informs Christian African Caribbean culture, including the influence of slavery, Revival Christianity and working class Jamaican life, Black theology and music ranging from post-war Sound System to American Hip Hop, Jesus Dub is a detailed exploration of how throughout history, music and faith have been transformed in response to racialised oppression. Finally, Beckford demonstrates that dub style appears in the teachings of Jesus, and that Dub is a tool which can provide new ways of envisaging and practising spiritual gifts and financial giving, proposing a more inclusive theology for everyone.

Robert Beckford explores the dialogue between two central institutions in African Caribbean life: the church and the dancehall. He highlights how Dub – one of the central features of dancehall culture – can be mobilized as a framework for re-evaluating theology, taking apart doctrine and reconstructing it under the influence of a guiding theme.Engaging with the social and cultural heritage that informs Christian African Caribbean culture, including the influence of slavery, Revival Christianity and working class Jamaican life, Black theology and music ranging from post-war Sound System to American Hip Hop, Jesus Dub is a detailed exploration of how throughout history, music and faith have been transformed in response to racialised oppression. Finally, Beckford demonstrates that dub style appears in the teachings of Jesus, and that Dub is a tool which can provide new ways of envisaging and practising spiritual gifts and financial giving, proposing a more inclusive theology for everyone.

Is contemporary Black British gospel music a coloniality? What theological message is really conveyed in these songs?In this book, Robert Beckford shows how the Black British contemporary gospel music tradition is incrisis because its songs continue to be informed by colonial Christian ideas about God.Beckford explores the failure of both African and African Caribbean heritage Churches to Decolonise their faith, especially the doctrine of God, biblical interpretation and Black ontology. This predicament has left song leaders, musicians and songwriters with a reservoir of ideas that aim to disavow engagement with the social-historical world, black Biblical interpretation and the necessity of loving blackness.This book is decolonisation through praxis. Reflecting on the conceptual social justice album ‘The Jamaican Bible Remix’ (2017) as a communicative resource, Beckford shows how to develop production tools to inscribe decolonial theological thought onto Black British music(s). The outcome of this process is the creation of a decolonial contemporary gospel music genre. The impact of the album is demonstrated through case studies in national and international contexts.

Is contemporary Black British gospel music a coloniality? What theological message is really conveyed in these songs?In this book, Robert Beckford shows how the Black British contemporary gospel music tradition is incrisis because its songs continue to be informed by colonial Christian ideas about God.Beckford explores the failure of both African and African Caribbean heritage Churches to Decolonise their faith, especially the doctrine of God, biblical interpretation and Black ontology. This predicament has left song leaders, musicians and songwriters with a reservoir of ideas that aim to disavow engagement with the social-historical world, black Biblical interpretation and the necessity of loving blackness.This book is decolonisation through praxis. Reflecting on the conceptual social justice album ‘The Jamaican Bible Remix’ (2017) as a communicative resource, Beckford shows how to develop production tools to inscribe decolonial theological thought onto Black British music(s). The outcome of this process is the creation of a decolonial contemporary gospel music genre. The impact of the album is demonstrated through case studies in national and international contexts.

Documentary as Exorcism is an interdisciplinary study that builds upon the insights of postcolonial studies, critical race theory, theological and religious studies and media and film studies to showcase the role of documentary film as a system of signifying capable of registering complex theological ideas while pursuing the authentic aims of documentary filmmaking.Robert Beckford marries the concepts of ‘theology as visual practice’ and ‘theology as political engagement’ to develop a new mode of documentary filmmaking that embeds emancipation from oppression in its aesthetic. In various documentaries made for Channel 4 and the BBC, Beckford narrates the complicit relationship of Christianity with European expansion, slavery, and colonialism as a historic manifestation of evil. In light of the cannibalistic practices of colonialism that devoured black life, and the church’s role in the subjugation and theological legitimation of black bodies, Beckford characterises this form of historic Christian faith as ‘colonial Christianity’ and its malevolent or ‘occult’ practices as a form of ‘bewitchment’ that must be ‘exorcised’. He identifies and exorcises the evil practices of colonialism and their present impact upon African Caribbean Christian communities in Britain in films such as Britain’s Slave Trade and Empire Pays Back through a deliberate process of encoding/decoding. The emancipatory impact of this form of documentary filmmaking is demonstrated by its ability to bring issues such as reparations to the public square for debate, and its capacity to change a corporation’s trade policies for the good of Africans.