Black Jesus, Religious Truth, and Tupac Shakur: Belief and the Irony of Faith

Abstract

Tupac Shakur’s black Jesus should be understood through a distinctionbetween belief and faith. The point of this distinction is not merely amatter of semantics. Rather, it helps illustrate how black Jesus challengesus to re-imagine religious truth and recognize the powerful role ofirony in religious matters. Religious belief is commonly understoodas a belief in a religious reality, or something that is objectively true.Tupac’s black Jesus, however, refers neither to an objective reality, nor ahistorical black Jesus. Nevertheless, he is a figure of religious devotion.Other scholars have noted the radical nature of Tupac’s black Jesus, butI suggest that they have overlooked, or understated, the unique waythat Tupac’s black Jesus re-orients our idea of religious truth. Tupac’sblack Jesus encourages religious truth to be understood as somethingthat addresses individuals instead of regarding it as a Truth that isuniversally prescriptive, or potentially provable.