Join us on Thursday, February 16, 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT, for a presentation by teacher/musician Andrew Stone Porter entitled, ““Music, the Sacred, and Radical Imagination.”

Overview: Religious practices (like prayer, meditation, sacred text recitations, and other rituals) and artistic expressions (such as music, literature, poetry, visual arts, and dance) engage us in ways that are nonrational, affective, relational, and imaginative. Such experiences prompt the possibility of a radical imagination, suggesting that another world is possible. For this reason, both religion and music have been central tools in struggles for power. This presentation will explore the power of religion and art, tracing the parallels and intersection, and tapping their potential to animate struggles against oppression. The presentation will be flavored with musical examples performed live.

About the speaker: Andrew Stone Porter is Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Bellarmine University. He received a Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics and Society from Vanderbilt University in 2021. Andrew’s work has appeared in the Journal of Religious Ethics, the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, The Other Journal, and the Political Theology Network. He also serves as music minister at St. William Church in Louisville and on the leadership team of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Justice. He lives in Louisville with his partner Shannon and their three children.