“Take Me to Church” by Hozier: Provoking Religious Ideological Change
Through Music and Imagery
I am a musician. Recently, I enjoyed that moment when you hear a song for the first time and are instantly captured. The song was playing at a restaurant where I was performing. I asked a friend in that moment about it, for it was from her playlist. She said it was a song about Catholic and Protestant religions, and she shared that she had previously thought it would be a great song to add to my repertoire. I thought the song was a strong statement of unconditional love, and the notion of divine Goddess energy, when I initially heard it. Inspired to perform it, I worked out the lyrics and chords and viewed the music video, and, unexpectedly, found myself profoundly amazed and deeply moved.
There are many songs that speak of love, then there are those few special creative efforts that are treasures; they result in music that speaks of love in a paradigm shifting and thought provoking way. “Take Me to Church” by the artist Hozier reveals an artistry that boldly challenges organized religious ideology on many levels, and actually provokes the audience to examine their own feelings regarding homophobia. It is in a
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His bluesy and gospel style blend perfectly to express the sentiment within his music. The EP “Take Me to Church” was released in 2013 and was accompanied with a video directed by Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson of the Feel Good Lost production company. Billboard magazine, in a biography of the Hozier on its website, describes how the “...video for the powerful title track [Take Me to Church], which directly addresses gay discrimination in Russia, went viral on YouTube and Reddit, [and] Hozier found himself with an international audience” (2016). However, a closer examination of the lyrics reveals Hozier has far more to express than what Billboard magazine noted in its
Why I Left the Church” by Richard Garcia is a poem that explores the ongoing and conflicting relationship between a child’s fantasy and the Church. Although the majority of the text is told in present tense, readers are put through the lenses of a young boy who contemplates the legitimacy of the restricting and constricting nature of worship. It is a narrative that mixes a realist approach of storytelling with a fantasy twist that goes from literal metaphors to figurative metaphors in the description of why the narrator left the church. The poet presents the issue of childhood innocence and preset mindsets created by the Church using strong metaphors and imagery that appeal to all the senses.
Throughout Bernard's collection of sermons, he justifies the central concerns of the “Song of Songs” within his selected works. He develops a creed of mystical contemplation, meditation, and personal connection with God. Bernard, using an allegorical approach, wrote about the “Song of Songs” and his sermons creating the metaphor of the church, stressing the importance of love in knowing service to God. The “Song of Songs” has many interpretations within the love poem, and Bernard conveys them by discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, dives into what the kisses are that indicate the progression of the soul, describes who the four kinds of spirits are, and identifies the bride and Bridegroom. With Bernard discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, he first starts with his interpretation of the title and then goes into what the book is about.
One day while in the streets of Hackney, feeling lost and sorry for myself, I heard the pleasant sounds of singing. I had not heard such a cheerful and loving sounds since I stoped going to Sunday school. I followed the sound of the voices...
Love is being considered the most incredible thing in one’s life. As human, we have right to make our own decisions on who we fell in love with. Sex, the action of love, which just like love, happen naturally. But we know sometimes that is not how love and sex being treated in the reality. In Hozier’s song, Take Me to Church, Hozier, he used a lot of rhetorical devices to point out and criticize that some organizations, such as churches, interfere with people’s love and sex.
Martin Luther King Jr begins his essay with “My Dear Fellow Clergyman” in an attempt to form a sense of parity between himself and the men being addressed. More ever, he says that he believes that these criticisms are “sincerely set forth” and the men are “of genuine good”. Through this, he applies a Rogerian tactic, where the writer attempts to find a common ground as an alternative to further dividing the sides. His demonstration of equality due to the inter-connectedness of all people is a central idea of the entire letter. He notes that his “secretaries” can’t answer the amount of tedious “criticisms that cross [his] desk” since “constructive work” requires superior attention. In the informational second paragraph, King, “the president
..., but still pleads for God to "take me in" (ll. 41), and promises to "pay...in happiness" for mercy. Once again, the speaker demonstrates the same desires for physical treasures that he expresses in the first stanza as he asks God to "give mine eye / A peephole there to see bright glory's chases" (ll. 39-40). Even in the God's kingdom, the speaker reveals his humanity as he focuses on ornamentation which starkly contrasts with God's divinity as He has the ability to show love even for sinners.
Right away Macklemore establishes his credibility and knowledge, ethos, by stating, "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay, 'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight" (Haggerty, Lewis, Lambert, 2102). With such a forceful statement, he shows that he can relate to this issue, which gives him the credibility that people look for in such an important topic. By speaking of personal experience, this gives the audience a closer look into his life and may feel a connection that many people might need to relate and understand the lyrics or topic of the song. With the song beginning with an anecdote about Macklemore as a third grader fearing he was gay brings a great sense of the ethos appeal. This directly illustrates society’s corruption of an innocent child’s mind with the fear of being gay and believing that being gay would be a fault. This opening anecdot...
Young, Bill. "Contemporary Christian Music: Rock the Flock." The God Pumpers: Religion in the Electronic Age. Ed. Marshall Fishwick and Ray B. Browne. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1987. 141-58. Print.
Many people across the world are affected every day by the gift of music. To those of us who let it into our lives, we truly view it for what it is. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes how powerful it can be. For me singing was something that I was always good at; I never really took it to heart. I never understood when people would talk about how music had changed there lives; I just didn't see how a few notes put together could affect anyone so deeply. It wasn't until last April when our choir was chosen among a select few to perform at Carnegie Hall that I would understand the indubitable impact of music.
The Story of Christianity is a book written by Justo Gonzalez; a native of Cuba. Gonzalez serves on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center which is located in Atlanta Georgia. He attended Yale University, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in historical theology; in fact Dr. Gonzalez is the youngest person at Yale to be awarded a Ph.D. He is also one of the first generation Latino theologians and instead of growing up Catholic, comes from a protestant background. In addition to writing many other books, Gonzalez is also Cokesbury’s publishing chief narrator of the Christian Believer study video lessons course and the recipient of the Ecumenism Award from the Theological Consortium in Washington, which he received as a result of his ecumenical work of bringing together churches of different denominations
In the essay, “The Second Great Awakening” by Sean Wilentz explains the simultaneous events at the Cane Ridge and Yale which their inequality was one-sided origins, worship, and social surroundings exceeded more through their connections that was called The Second Great Awakening also these revivals were omen that lasted in the 1840s a movement that influences the impulsive and doctrines to hold any management. Wilentz wraps up of the politics and the evangelizing that come from proceeding from the start, but had astounding momentum during 1825.The advantage of the Americans was churched as the evangelizing Methodists or Baptists from the South called the New School revivalist and the Presbyterians or Congregationalists from the North that had a nation of theoretical Christians in a mutual culture created more of the Enlightenment rationalism than the Protestant nation on the world. The northerners focused more on the Second Great Awakening than the South on the main plan of the organization.
Bibliography Ashton, Joseph N.. Music in Worship. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1943. Johansson, Calvin M.. Discipling Music Ministry. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1992. Snydor, James Rawlings. Hymns and Their Uses. Carol Stream: Agape, 1982. www.infoplease.com for information on the church history background
It may seem a little bit strange, but my favorite place in town in none other than this beautiful Evangelic Church. However, it wasn’t always so.
This articles brings lyrics from a song that was previously considered offensive, which is now clean by today’s standards, and effectively argues for freedom of speech.
For my observation trip, I decided to visit St. Ignatius Church in Oregon, Ohio. I visited a mass at 11:30 on Sunday November 19. I decided to visit a catholic church because my family has no religious background whatsoever, and I decided that I could go with one of my good friends that way if I need to ask questions, she was there to answer them for me.