April 7, 2016
For the past 10 years, The Center for Sacred Music’s Sound & Symbol Lecture Series has
connected the beliefs, worship practices, and music of world religions
with varied campus disciplines to offer a chance for participants to
frame connections in new ways. In a five-part series, the 2015-16
theme, “Sing Me to Heaven,” has explored views on death and what
comes after in the major world religions, as well as cultural components
that form an intrinsic part of our experiences with end-of-life
matters.
Throughout the
academic year, guest speakers have examined the beliefs on death held by
the Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, joined by VWC
faculty members, out on a limb, examining unique approaches to the
subject of death. These have included Dr. Terry Lindvall (C. S.
Lewis Endowed Chair of Communication and Christian Thought) – “Killing
Bambi’s and Nemo’s Mother: Death in the Animated Film,” Dr. Lisa Lyon Payne (Associate
Professor of Communication) - “A Brief History of the Obituary:
Celebrating, Commemorating and Canonizing Those Who Have Joined the
Choir Invisible,” Dr. Kellie Holzer (Assistant Professor of English) - “Victorian Mourning Mementos, from Sentimental Hairwork to Post-Mortem Photographs,” and Dr. Joyce Howell (Professor of Art History) - “Martyrdom, Murder, and Mayhem: The Old Master and Old Mistresses Picture Death.”
In
addition, students in CSM’s Church Music Certificate program, and those
in the spring course “African American Spirituals” have opened each
lecture with the history of a particular spiritual and led the room in
singing a stanza.
The series concludes today, April 7, at 11:00am in Fine Arts 9, as Dr. Linda Ferguson(Professor
of Management, Business and Economics), explores the funeral industry
in “Promoting Perpetuity: A Look at the Funeral Industry Where All Sales
are Final,” and Dr. Bryson Mortensen (Assistant Professor of Music), whose topic is “Elgar’s Death of Gerontius: Death, Judgment and Belief.”
Thanks
to Director of the Center for Sacred Music and Artistic Director of the
VWC Concert Series, Sandi Billy, for all of her efforts in coordinating
this incredible series.
