Shai Linne | Can a New Reformation Bring Ethnic Unity? | Gospel Bound

For Shai Linne, the cultural differences in music and dress never mattered compared to unity in the crucified and risen Christ. He became a key figure in the growing movement of Christian hip-hop, musically like Wu-tang Clan but lyrically like Billy Graham. The style was appealing, but the crowds seemed more excited about Jesus than anything else. Linne is convinced that we’ll look back one day on this era, between 2002 and 2012, as a revival much like the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early ’70s. As Shai writes in his new book, “The New Reformation: Finding Hope in the Fight for Ethnic Unity” (Moody), the subsequent high-profile shooting deaths of black men and women did not surprise many African Americans. His sense as a 16-year-old was that police beat up Black people all the time. But Christian hip-hop began to decline when White and Black Christians realized they did not see these incidents the same way. Even so, Shai Linne’s book points to hope for ethnic unity. It’s a book that cuts through the anger, sarcasm, unforgiveness, and mockery that characterize much Christian discourse today on this sensitive subject. He points us toward a better way of humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love.