Christian Artist Theology Project:
will complete a final project that will consist of research using Powerpoint or movie format based on theological themes prevalent in the works of a contemporary Christian music artist/composer. It is acceptable for students to choose to do a project on their own.
1. Decide on the artist your group will cover.
2. Research the artist, gathering as much biographical information as possible. The more you know about the artist the more you will be able to connect their images of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to them.
3. This is primary research. That is, YOU are the researcher and the information you present will be information you gather on your own. Using recordings and the web, collect the lyrics from three different recordings, one from early career, mid-career and current. You must analyze each song on the CD; they are conceived as a unit and often have connecting meanings.
4. Review the information on theological concepts. Do additional research as necessary to ensure you understand the key concepts.
5. As you read the lyrics for each of the songs, search for
- images of God
- images of Jesus
- images of the Holy Spirit
- any topics that recur that are interesting or surprising
I have supplied a chart that will help you organize and analyze the lyrics. You will submit the charts with your presentation.
6. Organize your presentation around the concepts in #5.
CRITICAL: Do not divide the project into albums and have people analyze one and write one part of the powerpoint. If you do that, it will NOT be cohesive. You might consider having one person look for images of Jesus, another for images of God etc. But the project MUST BE cohesive.
7. Create a Power Point or movie presentation. It must include recorded examples of some of the music you heard. Include whatever media will help the audience understand your main focus and the music you heard. Be creative! Make it something you wouldn't mind watching.
8. Dazzle me with your insights into the music and the artist.
9. Upload
o Pptx
o Bibliography- in correct format
o Discography - in correct format
o Completed charts
Assistance for using the song analyses charts.:
1. The chart is your detailed song analyses. Doing the chart is going to give you an easy to see snapshot of the artist's views about Jesus, God and the Holy spirit - and whatever rises to the top in your investigation. It puts the data from which to draw conclusions within easy reach.
2. AFTER you've completed the song analyses, THEN you synthesize the information. What do the song analyses tell you about the artist's views? How does that connect with the artist's life/journey? Was there a significant incident in the person's life that impacted the work? What do you know about the artist after doing the work that you didn't know before?
The song analyses is background to help you understand what the group believes. Your final powerpoint would tell:
- What you did (ex. examined 33 songs on three cds across the career etc)
- Biographical information
- What conclusions you were able to draw based on the analyses.
The first level is simply reporting out - ex. Out of 48 songs, 15 had clear references to God, 12 had references to Jesus, there were no references to the Holy Spirit but 20 songs dealt with social justice.
Then it's time to go deeper!
Look for patterns in the song lyrics - ex. Jesus as friend, God as all powerful etc. Then choose a representative song or two to support that.
If something interesting shows up like the one I mentioned above - social justice - you might connect it to the group's lives. ex. There were 20 songs about social justice. This was interesting because our artist was born very poor, his mama put him in a trashcan blah blah blah -
Use quotes from songs & quotes from articles about the artist.
Your power point does NOT have to use every song that you analyze. Remember, the analysis is done to give you information from which to draw connections and conclusions about what the artist believes about God, Jesus, Holy Spirit - in other words, the artist's theology.
Do you find any connections to things studied this semester that help you explain what you see in the song analyses and the artist's biographical information?
Attachment:- analyses- chart.rar