Personal Jesus: How pop music shapes our souls (Clive
Marsh and Vaughan S. Roberts: Baker Academic 2012)
When I read books by Ted Turneau and Steve Turner I was
enlightened and encouraged that writers and thinkers shared my belief that pop culture
(music in particular) was something worth engaging in from a Christ centred
perspective. I was however a little uneasy that these writers were looking at
ways of using such culture to underpin Biblical themes rather than enabling
Christians to approach culture from where it is, and to see how God is at work
within culture.
Marsh and Roberts have addressed these concerns in their
excellent (and much more academic) book. I’m not going to try to critique this
but will draw out some of the thoughts I felt most valuable. These start with a
quote which I think meets the concerns addressed above:
‘..listening must be intense and genuine; it must take
account of what performers and listeners want to say and do, and not just what
we happen to (want to) hear’ (129)
And again: ‘Those who lead worship or preach may use or
refer to music that they know or assume their congregations are listening to.
But too often sermons […] often deal only with lyrics, lyrics that are
conducive to what the preacher wants to say anyway’ (184)
Much of their writing focusses on listening which of itself
is seen as a spiritual practice and after Markham, introduce the reader to the notion
of ‘overhearing’ (which reminded me of John Stott’s ‘double listening’ to the world
and God) ‘Overhearing is being open, simply to what is there. Our discipline of listening means that we
listen to music by people of many faiths and none, sometimes by people indifferent
or hostile to faith. But nevertheless music is there, shaping the world of
Western citizens, people of faith and no faith, and filling the awareness and
echoing spaces of shopping malls across the Western world’ (128)
There is an enormous amount of great value in the book to
anyone who is trying to delve into popular culture. I’ll just summarise one
section that I found particularly helpful (p 146ff)
In this section the writers bring together their own
thoughts and map them alongside the contributions of others to produce ‘Dominant
Themes from the Use of Popular Music; A working Summary’
TRANSCENDENCE
Revelation – a gift
from outside the present experience, a loss of control, a sense of ‘otherness’ ‘to
speak of an experience of transcendence as revelatory, then, can legitimately
be interpreted as an experience of God (a divine/deity reality), in whatever
form ‘God’ is understood.’ (147)
A doctrine of God
– insofar as transcendence encourages a reflection upon life. This encompasses
a challenge about the place of ‘God’ within a reflective approach to living.
Christology –
To be taken out of ourselves require us to be aware of our bodies (You can’t
have an out of body experience without first recognising that you have a body!)
The incarnation of Christ and Paul’s emphasis on the body illustrate God’s
concern for the body. (I recall the impact of being among so many bodies at festivals).
Spirit -
relates to soul, inner life, dynamism, creativity. Being human is not reduced
to the material only; Western world is more comfortable with spiritual than
religious language but we must not lose sight of the Christian perspective that
Spirituality exists within the body.
Salvation – In the
sense that music can lead to liberation and a sense of well-being
Eschatology – Any
claim for transcendence includes within it an implied understanding of existence
which will be reflected on how one views the ‘last things’ (death, judgement,
heaven, and hell)
‘Transcendence is, then a crucial theme raised by the exhilaration
and the sustained sense of Otherness that listening to music can create.’ (149)
EMBODIMENT
Faith traditionally has an uncomfortable relationship
with bodies; dualistic separation has become commonplace so the emphasis of the
body in popular music can be unsettling. Yet (as mentioned above) Incarnation (enfleshment)
is the central motif of Christianity and the metaphor of ‘Body of Christ’ has
an enduring place in ecclesial doctrine: ‘dance, physicality, and the embodied
pleasure of music are all wholly consistent with an incarnational Christology. To
understand music “in Christ” means to celebrate its bodily aspects.’ (149)
CONNECTEDNESS
Examples of listeners being connected include with one
another at a concert (or festival), with others not present e.g. fan community
(I would add the recipients of social media messages from my personal and observed
experience), in a spiritual union with performers and music itself (again as witnessed
in sharing words and adulation of performers), with a (political) cause (Bob Geldof
and the silence when performing ‘I don’t like Mondays’), and with ultimate
values (as noted in my reflections on world view at the festivals). None of these
are religious but; ‘what we are identifying here is a social-psychological
element to the practice of music listening that informs, and can be informed by
theological reflection.’ (150)’
Any form of human connectedness that fosters human
well-being and flourishing is to be interpreted, in Christian perspective, as
the work of God in Christ, effected by the Spirit. It is a manifestation of redeemed
humanity, taking concrete form in the body of Christ’s an anticipation of
ultimate (eschatologically) redeemed humanity’ (150) The argument here is that such transcendent connectedness
draw together God, Christ, Spirit, salvation, church and scatology to make
sense of what is being heard
Or to simplify: ‘Do Christian notions of the communion of
saints or anticipations of the coming eschatological reign of God expect Christian
disciples to feel as connected with one another and with the ultimate destiny of humankind as those
leaving the arena might feel after a […] concert?’ (150)
RITUAL
Listening habits contribute to the shaping of listeners –
how they handle life stages and crises, form communities, seek and express
identity etc. All can be seen as Sacramental.
Human being –
Serious listening contributes to the formation of identity and is a kind of
spiritual discipline. Such shaping is not wholly neutral; it is influenced by
environment, upbringing, spending patterns and marketing. Freedom to choose.
Church – (1)
tradition. Whilst there is no single reference point for popular music there are
numerous on-line fora, discussion places and certain orthodox interpretations akin
to church which is equally diverse but embedded within a tradition, (2) a large
collection of people across time and space.
‘Through the connectedness between people brought about by music, there
is a sense in which the consistent engagement with music, in a ritual-like way,
contributes to the social shaping of a listener.’ (152) (3) Institutional in that
aspects of structure appear internationally, nationally, regionally and
locally, (4) Gathering and sacramental – symbols but also convey meaning (in
Baptism water symbolises cleansing but the ritual is actually the occasion of
God cleansing the baptised one). Note a) membership, belonging to an identified
group, b) ritualistic engagement has an
impact on the rest of life, beyond the experience of the moment, c) being part
of a (fan) community. Being shaped out of choice and by receiving a gift.
AND FINALLY
(This book) invites all students of human culture to
recognise that – whether or not we call it education, spiritual development,
personal growth, religious experience (or a combination) – the ‘something else’
that can often be discerned or happen as people devote themselves to listening
to popular music means that it is frequently more than mere entertainment.’
(189)
