Tag: Nomos Journal

The Dynamics of Fame

In the recent edition of my column at Nomos Journal, I consider the theologico-political dynamics of fame by looking at depictions of Jesus Christ in a couple musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar and a musical currently in development, Spears: The Gospel According to Britney.

If faith is a matter of ultimate concern (Paul Tillich’s well-known definition), fame is a matter of repeated concern, which is to say, reputation and renown, where reputation is a matter of being subject to repeated considering (re-putare).  An ultimate concern (faith) is not the same as a popularly celebrated or highly frequented concern (fame), however their difference is supplementary and not simply antagonistic.  Fame without faith is empty, and faith without fame is blind, out of touch.

Looking out of my window, between the blinds, I’m left wondering about the quasi-transcendental function of blindness in faith (blind faith; faith sans voir), justice (blindfolded Lady Justice), and love (blindfolded Cupid; Theocritus, Shakespeare, and others saying that love is blind).

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Sounding Sacred: Religion and Popular Music

I recently started writing a column on religion and popular music (“Sounding Sacred“) for Nomos Journal, an online journal covering multiple approaches to the study of religion and popular culture.  My first piece went up a few days ago.  It introduces “two, too loud pops” into religion: 1) the pop expressing the loud, noisy, sonorous aspects of the sacred and 2) the pop of popular culture.  In short, music and the multitude.  It’s a fun topic, but it’s also extremely important.  Profound encounters with sonority and intimate psychoacoustic relationships are of crucial importance for the ongoing composition of a shared world, a world “belonging to the people” (popularis) (and nonhuman and more-than-human persons are welcome!).

Heidegger said that only a god can save us now, but I don’t think he ever heard rock, hiphop, psytrance, bubblegum, metal, house, acid, country, synthpop, ska, punk….

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Tool, Deleuze-Guattari, Dionysus

For about a year, I’ve been slowly developing a pop analysis (Deleuze and Guattari) of the music of Tool, particularly with reference to Nietzsche’s hope for a Dionysian future of music.  The good people at Nomos Journal have published a short piece I wrote on that topic (thanks, Seth).  You can find it HERE.

Posted on by Sam Mickey 0