When Pamela Ayo Yetunde became a new professor of pastoral and spiritual care and counseling at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, she saw an opportunity to explore the religious underpinnings of her favorite pop/rock/funk musician—Prince, who died in 2016. Her 2017 project, “The Theology of Prince” sparked the idea for her book, Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality, and This Thing Called Life (Broadleaf, Apr.).
Yetunde spoke to PW about how she sees the seven-time Grammy winner, “not just as a performer, not just as a composer, but as a theologian.”
Why look at the singer from this perspective?
As someone who grew up in the church, the more I listened to his music, the more I was able to hear the resonance between his religious references and what I have been taught in church. At the seminary, the phrase “theology of Prince” just kept coming back to me, and then I felt obligated to do something about it. I felt it was almost like a sacred obligation to see what the theology of Prince could be.
What musical moments best exemplify his theological messages?
The most obvious would be “I Would Die for You,” because the lyrics are similar to Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. Then there are songs that are less obvious, like “Purple Rain.” There are passages in the Bible about the sacred color of purple and what it means to have a sacred r-e-i-g-n. Purple Rain, in my view, is about the Kingdom of God.
Does the theology of Prince work for fans who are not Christian?
His music transcended religious beliefs. I think he was on a mission not to be boxed in, in terms of musical taste, genre, what a Black man is supposed to be performing, and a melding of belief systems, in particular Protestant Christianity and the Kama Sutra. That idea of transcendence was, I would argue, his life's work, through his music.
Were there times when his message missed the mark?
No one gets it right all the time. As he grew older and his music became more religious, I could see more of a gender hierarchy where the man comes first. Another area of concern is that at some points here and there he came very close to lyrics that have anti-Jewish tropes, like in the song “Family Name” where he references stereotypical Jewish names. I'm very uncomfortable with that.
You call the book “explicit, both sexually and spiritually.” How so?
When Prince and I grew up in the Midwest and in a Protestant church, sexual urges were considered sinful and something to be ashamed of. He was asking the question, if what God creates is good, and God creates human beings out of goodness, and we create each other through sex acts, how can any of that really be bad? He tried so many ways to resolve this tension, and that produced art that will live for a very long time.
You say Prince could be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. What makes his music “gospel” in your view?
He was making an attempt, over decades, to tell the truth. At the core of his message throughout the decades, it was love, love, love, love, love, love, love, always coming back to love. He uses the Gospels of Jesus in his own funky rock way. It is indisputable in my view, that his music is part of the tradition of Christian gospel music.
