Papers by Christopher W Chase
Lucas Johnston’s study of the religious dimensions of the sustainability movement is an important... more Lucas Johnston’s study of the religious dimensions of the sustainability movement is an important example of the attempt by religious studies scholars to highlight the ‘‘religious’’ in unexpected contexts. Johnston looks closely at discourses of sustainability in three different types of sustainability movements: evangelical (creation care), interfaith, and secular ‘‘subcultures of resistance,’’ with special attention to their concern for social justice. In so doing, he overcomes a common tendency to see these groups as having little overlap. Johnston convincingly argues that in their adoption of sustainability discourses not only are they remarkably alike, but the leaders of these movements explicitly borrow from each other. He describes their participation in a kind of network of sustainability discourse, especially those that ‘‘draw on the language of core values and deep beliefs. . . . ’’ (18). What this cross-fertilization of values and practices suggests, Johnston argues, is t...
Approaching the sacred grove : the orphic impulse in Pagan religious music
Contemporary religious Paganism (also called Neo-Paganism) is an emerging area of study for schol... more Contemporary religious Paganism (also called Neo-Paganism) is an emerging area of study for scholars of religion in the United States and elsewhere. This dissertation analyzes Pagan religious music in the context of a more general recurrent religious impulse encoded in ...
Alan Watts and the Occultism of Aquarian Religion
The Relevance of Alan Watts in Contemporary Culture
Sacramental Song: Theological Imagination in the Religious Music of American Pagans
There can be no doubt that the cultural study of music is experiencing something of a renaissance... more There can be no doubt that the cultural study of music is experiencing something of a renaissance. Over the past decade, works by Stephen Marini, Miriam Ghazza, Michael D. McNally, Tricia Rose, David W. Stowe, Mark Slobin, Susan McClary and Michael D. Largey have largely redefined the way that scholars talk and write about the roles played by music in people's lives. Disciplines Philosophy Comments This chapter is published as “Sacramental Song: Theological Imagination in the Religious Music of American Pagans.” In Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, ed. Donna Weston and Andy Bennett, 162-175. Bristol, CT: Acumen Publishing, 2013. Posted with permission. This book chapter is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/philrs_pubs/23 11. SACRAMENTAL SONG: THEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION IN THE RELIGIOUS MUSIC OF AMERICAN PAGANS
Square gnosis , beat eros : Alan Watts and the occultism of Aquarian religion
Self & Society, 2015
Alan Watts’ influence on religious discourse is beginning to be mapped by twenty-first-century sc... more Alan Watts’ influence on religious discourse is beginning to be mapped by twenty-first-century scholars, but emphasis is mostly placed on his role as an interpreter of Eastern religion for the West. The present article considers Watts as a contributor of Western hermetic and occult tradition to contemporary American Paganism. Drawing on historical perceptions of occultism, Watts’ works and their use by subsequent Pagans, I locate Watts as a source for both gnostic realization and erotic transmutation through cosmic hierogamy. Drawing on Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic theory, I contend that Watts’ commitment to gnostic and erotic themes enframed a ‘historically-effected consciousness’ undergirding the modern Aquarian movement in general and American Paganism in particular.
Kristine Juncker, Afro-Cuban Religious Arts: Popular Expressions of Cultural Inheritance in Espiritismo and Santeria (Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2014), xx + 174 pp., $74.95 (cloth)
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 2015
Review of Kristine Juncker's 2014 book on University of Florida Press.
The Pomegranate, 2006
Religious music serves to co-create and carry strategies of theology, authen¬ticity, and behavior... more Religious music serves to co-create and carry strategies of theology, authen¬ticity, and behavior. This article examines the history of folk music and folk ideology in creating and maintaining such strategies. I examine several prominent examples of American folk music and Pagan music, articulating their shared historical and theological relationships. Focusing on national¬ism, feminism, and populism, I also argue that an ideology of the common ritual year is a prominent shared theme between American folk music and contemporary Paganism. While underscoring the need for greater attention to this area, the article concludes that the legitimization processes at work are similar to other American heritage musics and aspects of American cultural politics.
Review: Goddess As Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 2010
Prophetics in the Key of Allah: Towards an Understanding of Islam in Jazz
Jazz Perspectives, 2010
... 13 This is twice repeated alongside a bass response each time. ... leftist radicalism and mai... more ... 13 This is twice repeated alongside a bass response each time. ... leftist radicalism and mainstream black jazz and pop musicians such as Count Basie, Lena Horne, and WC Handy. ... the face of modernism, as well as a reinterpretation of the Islamic princi-ple of jihad (struggle or ...
Review: Goddess As Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy
Pomegranate, 2010
Alan Watts’ influence on religious discourse is beginning to be mapped by twenty- first-century s... more Alan Watts’ influence on religious discourse is beginning to be mapped by twenty- first-century scholars, but emphasis is mostly placed on his role as an interpreter of Eastern religion for the West. The present article considers Watts as a contributor of Western hermetic and occult tradition to contemporary American Paganism. Drawing on historical perceptions of occultism, Watts’ works and their use by subsequent Pagans, I locate Watts as a source for both gnostic realization and erotic transmutation through cosmic hierogamy. Drawing on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic theory, I contend that Watts’ commitment to gnostic and erotic themes enframed a ‘historically-effected consciousness’ undergirding the modern Aquarian movement in general and American Paganism in particular.
in 'Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music' (Acumen Publishing, UK), May 15, 2013
The American transformation of Paganism found its grounding in the hierophanies of Ralph Waldo Em... more The American transformation of Paganism found its grounding in the hierophanies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and aspects of the mid-20th century countercultural movement, especially environmental politics and second-wave feminism. Songs from countercultural artists thus often reflected a diffused spiritual dimension cloaked in a political critique of the dominant technocratic culture, while Pagan musicians themselves sought ways to position themselves as guardians and workers within a larger imagined community of multiple levels of a (meta)physically conscious cosmos/hierophany.
In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the musical components of the transnational A... more In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the musical components of the transnational Africana diaspora in relationship to political consciousness. Often lost or misunderstood is the religious and prophetic dimension outside of Christianity that is nonetheless an integral part of this movement. This essay attempts to provide an initial set of discursive markers by which to analyze the role Islam has played in jazz music, both as a theological and political force. This article assesses biographical statements, musicological expressions, accompanying cover artwork, and liner notes to examine the role that Islam has played in the music of such artists as Abdullah Ibrahim, Art Blakey, Yusuf Lateef, John Coltrane, Robert Stewart, and McCoy Tyner. I suggest several different trajectories for understanding Islamic expression by these musicians. Alongside the existing relevant literature, I call for understanding Islam on its own terms as a prophetic religious force and an integral part of jazz expression.
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Volume 8, Number 2, 146-160, Sep 15, 2006
Religious music serves to co-create and carry strategies of theology, authenticity, and behavior.... more Religious music serves to co-create and carry strategies of theology, authenticity, and behavior. This article examines the history of folk music and folk ideology in creating and maintaining such strategies. I examine several prominent examples of American folk music and Pagan music, articulating their shared historical and theological relationships. Focusing on national- ism, feminism, and populism, I also argue that an ideology of the common ritual year is a prominent shared theme between American folk music and contemporary Paganism. While underscoring the need for greater attention to this area, the article concludes that the legitimization processes at work are similar to other American heritage musics and aspects of American cultural politics.
Book Reviews by Christopher W Chase
Pomegranate: The International Journal for Pagan Studies, Feb 10, 2015
Review of Kristine Juncker's 2014 book on University of Florida Press.
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Aug 1, 2014
Review of Shepherd and Shepherd's 2012 book for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emer... more Review of Shepherd and Shepherd's 2012 book for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions
Encyclopedia Entries by Christopher W Chase
American Muslims have made notable contributions to the fields of art, literature, and music. The... more American Muslims have made notable contributions to the fields of art, literature, and music. The world of jazz is no exception. Jazz’s own debt to secular blues idioms and Christian
slave spirituals has been well-studied. While jazz has absorbed many different religious and cultural influences in its history, jazz musicians themselves began converting to Islam mostly in
the years immediately following World War II.
slave spirituals has been well-studied. While jazz has absorbed many different religious and cultural influences in its history, jazz musicians themselves began converting to Islam mostly in
the years immediately following World War II.
Conference Presentations by Christopher W Chase
To say that Scientology is one of the hottest topics today in popular gossip concerning celebriti... more To say that Scientology is one of the hottest topics today in popular gossip concerning celebrities is to make a grave understatement. From the written word, such as Hubbard's wildly successful science-fiction novels and speculation in the tabloid press, to the digital realm, battles over the meaning, dissemination and publicity of Scientology regularly take place. Scientologists have made a name for themselves in attempting to suppress newscasts, in organizing interfaith relief efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans, and of course, in the singular personality of the famous actors such as Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, and Jenna Elfman.
This paper explores Mormon themes in two important media works: John Ford's 1950 film Wagon Maste... more This paper explores Mormon themes in two important media works: John Ford's 1950 film Wagon Master and Glen A. Larson's original 1979 series Battlestar Galactica." Ford's sensitive treatment of Mormons stands in stark contrast to earlier film depictions. Larson, an LDS member himself, used explicit and esoteric themes in Mormon theology and cosmology as a basis (along with other material) for the series. That western and "exodus" themes in both form a hermeneutic nexus point to understand how the film and series resonate in the larger American imaginary.
Draft copy presented at the 2011 American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting conference ... more Draft copy presented at the 2011 American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting conference in San Francisco, CA. Please ask before quotation or republication, as material may be revised for later publication. © 2011.