“In the Living Waters” speaks directly to anyone who finds themselves suffering, ashamed or alone, and it describes a God waiting to welcome them.
Music
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Nick Cave is not a practicing Christian. But he wants to be your spiritual director.
For hundreds of thousands who follow his music and his newsletter, The Red Hand Files, Nick Cave has become a pastor of sorts.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Hip-hop’s divine blend of poetry, song and story
Alejandro Nava begins his formal analysis by situating hip-hop as something that “recovers the oral, rhythmic, and melodic nature of ancient scriptural transmission.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Features
Leonard Cohen’s imperfect covenant with others, lovers and God
Marcia Pally’s new book focuses on Leonard Cohen’s faith, relationships and worldview through his use of Jewish and Christian imagery.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’: The history behind the song
The history of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” is a colorful one—though shorter than you think.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
‘Summer of Soul’ and the power of memory in Jesuit spirituality
A documentary about a Black music festival awakens us to God’s presence even amid our historical sins.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Amy Winehouse and the spirituality of a restless heart
The singer’s pain was rooted in a keen awareness of her heart’s yearning for love and meaning.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Our favorite pop culture stories are sacred to us. Have we lost the ability to critique them?
I wonder at the rage we seem to have at the ready when it comes to our favorite pieces of pop culture.
Posted inFaith, Features
Taizé, a musical monastic community, formed in response to a global crisis. Today, it faces new ones: climate change and sex abuse.
Today, in any given year, Taizé attracts tens of thousands of young people from around the world, who travel as pilgrims to this hilltop in France to meet one another, to sing and pray and to discuss what they feel are the most urgent issues of their time, from the climate emergency to refugees.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
The (unofficial) Pope Francis Playlist
If you’re anything like me, Pope Francis’ recent visit to a record shop in Rome probably has you wondering: What might the vicar of Christ’s Spotify playlist look like?