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Course Overview
Rhythms of Faith (RoF) is an innovative theology course for undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame. Students in RoF will be trained to grapple with liturgy and music primarily through the creative process, specifically by working with classmates to produce new works of art: texts and songs designed to be sung in community. In the community gathered together to sing praise, the assembly or ecclesia, the self-revelation of God continues to become clear, generation after generation. By drawing on the centuries-old tradition of singing Psalms and Canticles in the Liturgy of the Hours, RoF will equip students with the conceptual framework for bringing their own experiences, ideas, and diverse musical backgrounds into creative conversation with liturgy and prayer. This class is for anyone, regardless of their musical training or proclivity–the requisite singing and song-writing skills will be taught throughout the course. RoF will train students to harness their initial insights into a creative work, and teach a collaborative process for refining these into polished works. Small-group projects will also allow students to experience first-hand the process of integrating their intellectual knowledge of religion with embodied practice. Through this community-based creative process, students will catalyze the formation of a community of trust–one of vulnerability, interdependence, love, and celebration. This exemplifies the church as a community of disciples, who strive to more fully understand God together.
Course Goals and Outcomes
Rhythms of Faith meets twice weekly for 75-minute sessions, connecting the concepts of creativity, liturgy, and music.
Over the course of the semester, you:
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Will be able to articulate at least one theology of liturgical worship and explain how the musical, lyrical, and cultural choices they have made in their final project relate to a theology of liturgy.
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Will participate in 20-30 hours of choral music singing and pedagogy.
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Will be able to evaluate lyrics, melody, and theology of liturgical music.
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Will collaborate with their peers and instructors to compose and arrange one piece of choral liturgical music of any style that engages with a serious issue or need they see in the contemporary world.
Instructors
Kim Belcher
Kim Belcher is Associate Professor of Theology in Liturgical Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Her current research is on the role ritual should play in recovery from social and ecological crisis in pluralistic North America. Belcher is currently the President of the North American Academy of Liturgy and serves on three U.S. ecumenical dialogues: the Methodist-Catholic, Episcopal-Catholic, and Pentecostal-Catholic dialogues.
J.J. Wright
J.J. Wright is the Director of the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir.
As a conductor, pianist, composer, and producer his interests lie at the convergence of the creative process, music-making, spirituality, and liturgy. J.J.’s work has appeared on Grammy-award winning and #1 Billboard Classical albums.