Sex, God, and Rock 'n' Roll

May 11, 2020
Taylor (The Aesthetics of Atheism), professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, who worked as a roadie for AC/DC in its early days, explores the “random magic and mystery of life” in this entertaining essay collection. Detailing his “journey in, through, and out of a particular Christianity,” Taylor’s essays cover his theology of kissing, a requiem to songwriter Leonard Cohen, and exposition of Luke 7, in which a prostitute crashes a Pharisee’s dinner party. Taylor quotes many famous academics and artists (Sigmund Freud, John Caputo, Peter Beard), offers homages to his favorite singers (Otis Redding, Bono, Nick Cave), and snarls at the “conservative form of religion” in which he was raised : “I was forced to walk away or to dig deeper.” Standout essays include “Under the Waves,” about Taylor’s difficult relationship with his mother (bookended by her spinal meningitis at his birth and the onset of dementia at the end of her life) and his eulogy to David Bowie, who made Taylor realize that “music has been a lifelong ritual devotion.” Spiritualists of all stripes will find many gems in Taylor’s wondrous exploration of how “the end of God” can be “an opening for and to life in the world.”