Body piercing saved my life.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Journalist Andrew Beaujon has published an excellent, detailed exploration of the underbelly of Christian music and evangelical subculture. We’d recommend this book anyway, because it is a meticulous, generous, and often funny treatment of a subject that usually garners a lot of pointing and laughing but not much in the way of substantive research. But we also recommend it because it devotes an entire chapter to Beaujon’s experience at 2005’s Festival of Faith and Music. Student Activities guru Ken Heffner is quoted extensively, and the chapter’s conclusion is poignant and challenging. Check out passages like this one:
It was too easy, I decided, to look down on Christians struggling with whether to engage the world outside. If you were raised, as David Bazan was for example, in a Christian culture where you had to twist yourself into intellectual knots trying to figure out a way to enjoy non-church-sanctioned music that nonetheless spoke to you, it’s a radical idea to allow yourself to look for God in the work of, say, Lil’ Flip. ...
Surely there must be limits to this approach. Is the divine revealed in John Waters films? Okay, bad joke. But what about in porn? In music explicitly hostile to religion? And are kids who’ve grown up experiencing every innovation in music, every film, every television show through the filter of evangelical Christianity, with its insistence on absolute truth, really going to have the tools to be as discerning as Ken Heffner wants them to become?
That, of course, is exactly why we’re doing the stuff we’re trying to do at Calvin, and I’m thankful that Beaujon got a glimpse into a different side of the Christian subculture.
This post already contains far too many fawning adjectives, so go ahead and pick up Beaujon’s ably-written study. You can also check out his blog, Body Piercing Saved My Life, which is already packed with interviews and reviews. (I recommend his personal blog for regular reading and sharp music criticism as well.)
And many more.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
About half of the FFM lectures are now available here. The rest should be up in a week or so. Happy listening!
2 comments on "And many more."
Kate,
Keep up the good work. I love reading the SAO blog to hear a new perspective on the concerts everyone talks about. One question.
Is Nickel Creek really coming to Calvin?! When, where, all that info I would love to know. Any idea when tickets go on sale?
Thanks for your work! You really are making an impact in this place, glorifying God by calling creativity and art “good” when so many just don’t understand. Keep up the educating!Remy ><>
Posted by Remington on 12/12 at 09:50 AM
More goodies.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
A few more lectures from last spring’s Festival of Faith and Music:
1 comment on "More goodies."
Keep on keeping on....
Posted by Ken Haynes on 11/18 at 12:44 PM
Goodies.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
A few small treats to tide you through the rest of the week:
Ken Heffner, director of student activities here at Calvin, lectures on “holy worldliness” at the Festival of Faith & Music 2005. For those of you still waiting for the additional mp3 files, we’re hoping to have most of them up soon. It turns out that a few are of extremely fuzzy quality and thus will not be available. We’re doing all we can, so thanks for your patience!
FFM 2005 also got a mention last summer in Under the Radar magazine, as part of a story on a “non-movement” of Christians making music in the mainstream. Some of our favorite artists, including several who have participated in FFM, were featured front and center. We’d heard rumors of this publication, but only recently did we discover that you could read it online.
And with an eye to the future, February in Michigan just started looking a lot less dismal than usual.
Sea change.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
In the last few years, evangelical colleges have begun changing their attitude about popular culture. Rather than blanket rejection, these schools are interested in engaging popular music, film, video games, et cetera. Last year, I covered the beginnings of this “paradigm shift” in an article that appeared at Christianity Today Music. Now, Messiah College has taken their engagement model to the next level with a weekend conference:
Faith and Popular Culture
Reconciling with the Popular Arts
November 11-12, 2005
Messiah College
Grantham , PA
Featuring concerts from Jeff Tweedy, Sarah Masen, Sam Ashcroft, and Matt Slocum
Lectures from Steve Turner, David Dark, Andy Whitman, Crystal Downing, and our own Ken Heffner (among many others)
Three cheers to Jeff Rioux for getting this off the ground! Click here if you want to register.