Welcome to Divinity Song Cycle, a compilation of original songs and music from students (past and present), faculty, and staff of Vanderbilt Divinity School. This is an ongoing project, so be sure to visit us often. We will be adding new performances regularly.
In the spring of 2012, Vanderbilt Divinity School's Earth Songs event presented me with an opportunity to perform an original protest song concerning the environment. From personal experiences I have seen vivid and troubling images of blatant exploitation of the Earth. "How Long?" begs us to reckon with such realties and ask ourselves if the Earth can continue to take care of us at the rate in which we consume her resources.
This song is my interpretation of the story of Rahab the harlot of Jericho, written from her perspective, found in Joshua 2:6. An outsider, pushed to the margins of the city, living in the city walls, she is representative of those who are forced into "jobs that rob human dignity" to provide for her larger family. The walls of her own oppression begin to fall around her as she seizes the opportunity to take a risk on the different God, Yahweh, whose power she has heard of through the gossip that circulated in her place of business.
“To be redeemed, oh to be redeemed, from kings and queens and systems and regimes . . . from the grip of the mighty, from the jaws of the lion . . . oh, to be redeemed this side of Zion . . . “
Welcome to Divinity Song Cycle, a compilation of original songs and music from students (past and present), faculty, and staff of Vanderbilt Divinity School. This is an ongoing project, so be sure to visit us often. We will be adding new performances regularly. 
Sherry Cothran - "Circling the Godless City"
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