An Eternal Pitch examines the homiletic life and afterlife of Bishop G. E. Patterson, the dynamic spiritual leader of the Church of God in Christ from 2000 to 2007. Although Patterson died in 2007, his voice remains a staple of radio and television broadcast, and his sermons have taken on a life of their own online, where myriad YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok users enact innovative forms of religious broadcasting. Their preoccupation with Patterson's "Afterliveness" punctuates the significance of Patterson's preoccupation with musical repetition: across the decades of Patterson's ministry, a set of musical gestures recur as sonic channels, bringing an individual sermon into contact with scripture's eternal transmission.
About the AuthorBraxton D. Shelley is Associate Professor of Music, Sacred Music, and Divinity at Yale University, where he is also Director of the Program in Music and the Black Church. He is the author of
Healing for the Soul: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination.
Book InformationISBN 9780520387140
Author Braxton D. ShelleyFormat Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of California PressPublisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 363g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm