Music, art and religion

I’m deeply enjoying Robert Wuthnow’s book “All In Sync,” which details the impact the arts and music have had on religious communities in recent times in the US. At the same time, I’ve been enjoying some of the exclusive tracks up at the iTunes store (which now works for Windows users, as well), and it occurs to me that the impact of digital music is like a subterranean tremor that is thoroughly shaking the foundations of religious practice in the US, but few religious institutions (particularly of the mainline variety) have a clue about it. The new ability of Windows users to access iTunes made me realize that I could make a playlist (say, 8-10 pop songs) a requirement for a course and students could easily purchase the whole list ($8 to $10 is cheaper than most of the books I assign). I’m so fascinated by this possibility that my mind has been spinning all sorts of ideas for ways to engage my students around pop music. I’ve wanted to do this for forever (and I do do it now, in some limited ways), but this piece of software now makes that possible. Of course, nothing by Marty Haugen or Brian Wren is up at iTunes yet. When will we (that is, mainline religious folk) get it?!?

Steve Jobs’ announcement of the Windows version of iTunes is up in streaming video at the Apple site. I enjoyed watching it, not the least because of Bono’s comment (he was on live via iChat at one point) that it was fun to see the “Pope of software meet the Dalai Lama of integration.” Sarah McLachlan also appeared, playing a song. It’s worth noting, for me at least, that I’m more interested in watching this kind of event on the web, than anything on television this morning. Another seismic shift…