Tag: Music
Why I Keep Coming Back, or: Hooked
This past semester, I completed an ethnographic project on a Sacred Harp singing group in the Boston area, motivated by one central question: what is it about this old-timey style of music with its ar... Read More
Theology of the Body, Episode 2: The Gendering of Voices in a Mormon Sunday Choir
Like the master-signifier of reality, the hanging portrait of a prophet hovered in the air of a vacated instruction room, smiling with relief over a group of the elect youth of God’s Zion who ha... Read More
How Contemporary Christian Worship Music May Bring About Interfaith
I admit that I am a self-confessed church hopper. I wear this badge of life-long spiritual seeking with both courage and regret. When something becomes stale, when the community looks too comfortable ... Read More
“Alhamdulillah, I am a Muslim,” Sings the Baptist: The Power of Music for Interfaith Dialogue
The night that Navy SEALS stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, another man living not five miles away awoke wondering why the military was conducting drills in the middle of the night. ... Read More
“As I Develop the Awakening Mind:” the Dharma and MCA
Adam Yauch, aka MCA, died last week. He was a founding member of the Beastie Boys, also known for his Buddhism and social activism. He created the Milarepa Fund, which produced the Tibetan Freedom con... Read More
Sing the Third Verse!
The spirit of Advent is one of sensitivity to oppression and suffering, to hunger and need. Under the weight of such sorrows, Advent finds in the prophets of Israel a hope that gives voice to these ... Read More
Looking Beyond “All-American Muslim”
A few weeks have gone by since the November 11 premier of the TLC reality show “All-American Muslim.” I have only just found some time to sit down and watch the first two episodes of the show. Hav... Read More
Lyrical Wisdom of John Legend
My summer experience working as a hospital chaplain taught me how to listen, and the sacred space that can emerge from slowing down and embracing the Divine the comes from the stories shared by one an... Read More