Sightings Articles

The Beatles | music | pop culture

“No One Was Saved”: The Beatles and Organized Religion

Editor's Note: It was 50 years ago today... the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of their most important and influential albums. This issue of Sightings—the third part in our continuing series on religion and popular music—...

June 1, 2017

#blacklivesmatter | Chance the Rapper | Chicago | hip-hop | J.Kwest | music | neferu | pop culture | rap | Southside

Being Hip-Hop, Being Job, and Being

Editor's Note: Today's issue is the second in a series of Sightings (perhaps we should say "Hearings," or "Listenings") on the manifold ways in which popular music intersects with religion. Be sure to check out the first installment, Paul DeCamp's "T...

May 4, 2017

music | polls | preaching | sermons | worship

"Shocking" News on Worship and the Public

The focus of Sightings is on the “public,” as in “public religion,” a concept which often leads to discussion of “church and state” affairs or “religion and public life.” The “private religion” of the sanctuary and temple does not often make news. Ye...

May 1, 2017

Leonard Cohen | music | pop culture

The Broken Grace of Leonard Cohen

Editor's Note: The deaths of David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen; the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Bob Dylan; the public feud between then-President-elect Trump and the cast and creators of Hamilton; and other recent events have all served to un...

April 13, 2017