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Quick to Listen

Beyonce's 'Lemonade' as a Redemptive Work with Zakiya Jackson

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Christianity

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2016

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On Saturday, Beyoncé released her 12-song visual album, Lemonade, in which the 20-time Grammy award winning artist known for “Single Ladies,” “Irreplaceable,” and “Crazy in Love,” explored themes of anger, loss, redemption, and resurrection. The album’s lyrics and imagery also included a plethora of Christian references, including mentions of the “Holy Book,” “baptism”, and visuals of the Bible. “Chapters” within the visual album are named “emptiness,” “forgiveness,” “resurrection,” and “redemption.” “[I] went to the basement, confessed my sins, and was baptized in a river,” Beyonce says at the beginning of “Intuition.” “I got on my knees and said 'amen'... and said 'I mean.'” In “Anger,” text reading “God is God and I am not” momentarily appears on the screen, a section that moved Zakiya N. Jackson, who wrote about her initial reaction to the album’s release on Collected Young Minds. “It really is about being frustrated and angry, this sense of this isn’t right, what I have experienced. But even in the midst of this, there’s this acknowledgement that I can’t control all of this,” she said. “I love that because this place of letting go is acknowledging that God is bigger than me and that I can’t make everything the way I want it to be.” Jackson joined Morgan and Katelyn on this week’s Quick to Listen to discuss what Beyonce means to black women, what makes her message stand apart, and whether it’s time to make more lemonade. -What makes Beyonce unique? What about her work moves you? -As Christians, how did you interpret or perceive the religious references in the visual album? -It seems like the significance of Beyonce’s work is tied to her identity as a black woman. Why is that important? Why does that that resonate? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.0

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.

0:14.5

Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.

0:20.6

Music Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com.

0:29.5

You are listening to Quick to Listen.

0:33.5

I'm Morgan Lee, and I'm an assistant editor here at Christianity today.

0:39.6

And each week on this show, we go beyond hashtags, we go beyond hot takes, and we set aside some intentional time to explore the reality behind a major cultural event. Today I'm joined, as

0:46.0

always, by Caitlin Beatty. Caitlin, hey. Hey, how's it going? What's going on, Caitlin? I am so

0:51.1

excited about this episode, and I hope our listeners are too.

0:55.1

I am the print managing editor here at Christianity today, and this week we are pleased to be

0:59.5

joined by Zakiya Jackson.

1:01.5

Hey, Zika.

1:02.8

Hi.

1:04.0

Thanks so much for being with us today.

1:06.2

Yeah, it's my pleasure.

1:07.4

So glad to be here.

1:08.7

So Zika is an amazingly impressive person with a very long,

1:13.7

impressive resume. She's currently... Get ready, everybody. She's currently the director of partnerships

1:18.4

at a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., mobilizing people of faith around the issue of public education.

1:24.9

Before that, she was at the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative

1:28.3

in Grand Rapids. She's a financial advisor and member of the National Leadership

1:33.0

cohort of the Christian Community Development Association. And two years ago, she was named

...

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