Exegeting Bad Bunny

podcastOPTalks2023 Highlights
Written By Open Plaza

Stephen Adubato and Rev. Alex Evangelista hold a conversation and listening party around the music of the Puerto Rican artist and producer

 
 

In this episode of OP Talks, philosophy professor and freelance writer Stephen Adubato and Princeton Theological Seminary alum Rev. Alex Evangelista hold a conversation and listening party around the music of Bad Bunny.

Adubato and Rev. Evangelista—who are Catholic and Baptist, respectively—have both worked with youth and also written on issues of race and the intersection of faith and culture; in particular about Bad Bunny’s work. Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the Puerto Rican artist, reggaeton star, and producer has won three Grammy Awards, nine Latin Grammy Awards, and thirteen Premios Lo Nuestro, among other awards; in 2022, he was Spotify’s top artist for the third year in a row.

“Bad Bunny’s craft and persona speak to the distinct sensibilities of his generation [on the cusp of Gen Y (millennials) and Gen Z (the iGen)],” writes Adubato in the first of his three-part blog series devoted to the artist. “Optimistic Nihilism can be said to be La Nueva Religion of this generation.” Therefore, to overlook Bad Bunny, argues Rev. Evangelista in The Presbyterian Outlook, would be “a gross oversight…I exegete Bad Bunny in three arenas: social, political and spiritual.” Listening to Bad Bunny, he tweeted then, “ultimately became a way for me to resist despair, experience joy, and trust in our God.”

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Song of Songs

Stephen Adubato listens for the sacred in secular music.
HTI Open Plaza, 14 November 2022

 

Why you should listen to Bad Bunny

Alex Evangelista explores the depths of social, political and spiritual significance, along with the joy, in the music of the hit Puerto Rican recording artist.
The Presbyterian Outlook, 15 November 2022

 
 
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Stephen Adubato

Stephen G. Adubato studied Spanish Literature and Religious Studies at Fordham University and went on to pursue graduate work in Moral Theology at Seton Hall. Since then, he has taught philosophy and theology at both the secondary and university levels. He is currently spending a year working as a Journalism Fellow for Compact Magazine through the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a contributing writer for the National Catholic Reporter and has published with over forty other publications, including Newsweek, The New York Daily News, The Tablet, America: The Jesuit Review, Nylon, and The Hedgehog Review. He also hosts the Cracks in Postmodernity blog and podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @stephengadubato.

Featured
Alex Evangelista

Rev. Alex Evangelista is the Designated Pastor at the Church On The Mall in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania and former Associate Pastor of Christian Formation and Technology Ministries at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. He was born to two Salvadorean immigrant parents in Calgary, Alberta. At the age of five, his family moved to Tulare, CA. He spent his adolescence at the church, which empowered him and led him to affirm that he was being called to ministry. Rev. Evangelista holds a BA in Theology/Biblical Studies from Azusa Pacific University and an MDiv and an International Certificate in Youth, Theology, and Innovation, both from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS). After his undergraduate studies, he worked as a Program and Outreach Intern at the first nonprofit immigration resource center of the San Gabriel Valley in Monrovia, CA, during which he began to see how his theology in action could make a difference in people’s lives. He later accepted the call to serve as Assistant Student Minister at Mannofield Church in Aberdeen. Rev. Evangelista has also served as Seminary Intern at San Marino Community Church; and as Chaplain Intern at Penn Medicine Princeton Health and at the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. Passionate about Latin music, he plays guitar and bass, and enjoys spending time either teaching other people how to dance or dancing to bachata and salsa at home with his fiancé Andrea or away (he led dance-fitness courses at PTS and learned L.A. salsa from a Polish dance teacher in Aberdeen, Scotland). The couple’s cat is named after King Nebuchadnezzar, though Nebbie is the name he meows to.

 
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