Our Faith in Writing Podcast Episode Six: When Jesus Shows Up in Popular Music with Delvyn Case
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Show Notes
Our Faith in Writing explores the intersection of writing and faith through conversations about the writing process, the reading life, contemplative practices, and more. Host Charlotte Donlon is a writer and a certified spiritual director for writers, and she believes writing and reading help us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world.
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In this episode, Charlotte Donlon talks to Delvyn Case about some of the ways Jesus shows up in popular music. They discuss rap, punk, and country music artists and how Jesus is acknowledged in their music. Delvyn wrote an article for Sojourner's magazine in October 2020 titled "JESUS SHOWS UP IN DISCOS, HONKY-TONKS, BLUES BARS, AND STRIP CLUBS." This article was the jumping off point for this podcast episode. If you subscribe to Sojourner's you can read it here, but it's not required reading for you to listen to this episode.
Black hip-hop scholars recommend by Delvyn: Ebony Utley, Anthony Pinn, Michael Eric Dyson, Tricia Rose
For the history of country music, Delvyn suggests the Ken Burns documentary from a few years ago. For the origins of rock'n'roll, the Rolling Stone History of Rock'n'Roll is a comprehensive resource. It delves deeply into the Black origins of the style. Another great book on the development of 60's rock out of the blues is McNally's "On Highway 61: Race, Music, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom."
Links to Delvyn's writing are here.
Recent book with Delvyn's chapter on Jesus in popular music can be found here.
Delvyn's recent recording of sacred concert music - along with listening links - can be found here.
More on Deus Ex Musica can be found here.
Delvyn Case is a musician, writer, scholar, and educator based in Boston. He is a composer of classical concert music whose work often explores themes from the Christian tradition, as well as a scholar of popular music. He writes about the intersections of music and religion for both academic and general audiences, including on his Patheos blog “Alleluia: Music and the Christian Life.” He is the founder of Deus Ex Musica, an ecumenical organization that promotes sacred music as a resource for learning and faith formation. He teaches at Wheaton College in Massachusetts – which, ironically, is a secular institution unrelated to the Wheaton College in Illinois.
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™ and Parenting with Art™. She is also the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University where she studied creative nonfiction with Paula Huston and Lauren F. Winner. She holds a certificate in spiritual direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and other good things, subscribe to her email newsletter.