Anthony B. Pinn received his B.A. from Columbia University, Master of Divinity and PhD in the study of religion from Harvard University. He is currently the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of religion at Rice University. Pinn is the founding director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) also at Rice University. Pinn’s research interests include religion and culture; humanism; and hip hop culture. He is the author/editor of over 35 books, including The Black Church in the Post-Civil Rights Era (2002); Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion (2003), Noise and Spirit: Rap Music’s Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities (2004), and the novel, The New Disciples (2015). Pinn is also director of research for the Institute for Humanist Studies, a Washington DC-based think tank.