The musical representation

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W. A. Mathieu

Music is nothing but a sequence of fleeting vibrations that arise and subside. Why can something so insubstantial thrill us, pacify us, or even make us cry? Because, says W. A. Mathieu, whether it’s a cantata or a blues jag, a harmonica solo or a symphony, music always reveals the sacred, making a bridge across the space between us and others, and uniting mind and heart within us. It’s truly a mystical path, and you don’t even need to listen that deeply to discover it. Mathieu’s lively and delightful essays lead you to question what music is, how it works, and what it’s for. And he shows you how to make music a spiritual practice, to understand its value in your life and in the creation of family and community.

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Theodore Gracyk and Andrew Kania

This is a guide and reference source to the key topics, subjects, thinkers and debates in philosophy and music. Over 50 entries by an international team of contributors are organised into six sections.

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John Richardson

Here, Richardson navigates key areas of current thought - from music theory to film theory to cultural theory - to explore what it means that experience of music is now cinematic, spatial, and ultimately visual as much as it is auditory.

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Tom Beaudoin

Beaudoin, himself a member of Generation X, explores fashion, music videos, and cyber-space and concludes that his generation has fashioned a theology radically different from but no less potent or valid than that of their elders. Beaudoin's investigation of popular culture uncovers four themes that underpin his generation's theology. First, all institutions are suspect - especially organized religion. Recoiling from perceived hypocrisy, yet hungering for spiritual experience, this generation has taken religion into their own hands. Second, personal experience is everything. GenXers want to discover everything for themselves, and every form of intense personal experience - including sex - is potentially spiritual. Third, suffering is also spiritual. Images of a suffering Jesus have a personal meaning for this generation that they don't have for their elders. Finally, this generation sees ambiguity as a central element of faith. Rather than retreating from doubt, they embrace it.