'Divine' Lessons in 'Ordinary' Music
Practical theologian Christian Scharen has written compellingly of the theological significance of popular music in many books. His writing about U2 came to mind as I watched this recent video (below) of Bono singing “Every Breaking Wave” recently in Dublin to a (comparatively, for U2) modest crowd. Scharen has argued that U2 is compelling in […]
Musical Practice and Practical Theology
One of the pleasures of practical theology for me has been the freedom to learn about practice in different environments and to bring that learning ‘into’ the theological estimations of practice ingredient to practical theology — and to experiment with how practical theological discourses, in turn, facilitate learning about the goods of life that ‘other’ […]
Brief Reflections on Practice in View of Race and Spirit Through Music
As someone who studies the interplay of “spiritual” and “musical” experience, as a musician, and as a fan, I spend a fair amount of time in studios, in concert halls, and at music festivals. Whether I’m performing or just enjoying, my academic side that wants to “study” what’s happening is never far away. That was […]