Call Me the Seeker Listening to Religion in Popular Music [Paperback]

-One of very few books on religion and popular music
-Covers a wide range of musical styles, from heavy metal and rap to country, jazz and Broadway musicals
-The essays are written by academics and informed by their enthusiasm for the music

Many books have explored the relationship between religion and film, but few have yet examined the significance of religion to popular music. Call Me The Seeker steps into that gap.

Michael Gilmour's introductory essay gives a state-of-the-discipline overview of research in the area. He argues that popular songs frequently draw from and interpret themes found in the conceptual and linguistic worlds of the major religions and reveal underlying attitudes in those who compose and consume them. He says these texts deserve more serious study. The essays in the book start an on-going conversation in this area, bringing a variety of methodologies to bear on selected artists and topics.

Musical styles covered range from heavy metal and rap to country, jazz, and Broadway musicals.

Table of ContentsIntroductionMichael J. Gilmour. Radios in Religious Studies Departments: Preliminary Reflections on the Study of Religion in Popular MusicSection One: Religious Sources behind Popular MusicDaniel Maoz. Woman as Shekhinah: Kabbalistic References in Bob Dylan's InfidelsJames Knight. I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore : Protest and Promise in Woody Guthrie and the Jesus TraditionMichael J. Gilmour. The Prophet Jeremiah, Aung San Suu Kyi, and U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind: On Listening to Bono's JeremiadSection Two: Religious Themes in Popular MusicKarl J. McDaniel. Suffering and Sacrifice in Context: Apocalypticism and Life beyond Les Mis?rablesBrian Froese. Comic Endings: Spirit and Flesh in Bono's Apocalyptic Imagination, 19801983Anna Kessler. Faith, Doubt, and the Imagination: Nick Cave on the Divine-Human EncounterPaul Martens. Metallica and the God That Failed: An Unfinished Tragedy inl4