William Edgar

Review: A Supreme Love

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A Supreme Love: The Music of Jazz and the Hope of the Gospel, William Edgar. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022.

Summary: A study of the roots and contributing streams of jazz music, proposing that the reason jazz moves from miserable lament to inextinguishable joy is the Christian hope found in the gospel.

This book had me from the title. I recognized the allusion to one of the great jazz albums of all times, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. And I found myself intrigued by the idea of the connection between jazz and the Christian gospel. That connection did not seem readily apparent for many years, my associations being of performances in speakeasys and clubs. Then I had the chance to perform some of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Songs with a local choral group, learned about the spirituality of Coltrane in his later life, and listened to some of the sacred works of Dave Brubeck.

William Edgar’s book shows the connection going far deeper, and further back. Most know that jazz is one of the gifts that has come out of the Black community. Edgar, who is both a theologian and an accomplished jazz pianist, traces it all the way back to the Middle Passage experience and the centuries of slavery. He writes:

How could the music that grew out of the realities of the enslavement of Black people, forced migration, rape, husbands and wives being separated, and children being ripped from their families not reflect this suffering and pain? If, as I will argue, jazz is the story of deep misery that leads to inextinguishable joy, then we cannot ignore the sources of sorrow that are found at the root of this music, from spirituals to blues
to jazz. (Edgar, p. 27)

As noted, a theme running through the book is the idea of deep misery and lament that leads to inextinguishable joy. Edgar traces that misery to the deplorable conditions of slavery, but also notes the strange and miraculous reception of the Christian gospel despite the iniquities of Christian slave owners. The biblical narratives of physical and spiritual bondage and emancipation resonated deeply as did the movements from lament to praise in the Psalms.

All of this found expression in distinctive forms of music and dance drawing upon both African culture and the musical forms found in various parts of the South. Edgar traces several different streams arising, beginning with spirituals, then gospel, and finally the blues, all of which contribute to jazz. Edgar connects the “lining out” used to teach words with the “call and response” character of the spirituals, the use of spirituals as code on the Underground Railroad and the popularizing of spirituals by the Fisk Jubilee singers. Gospel is more complicated with roots both in nineteenth century revivalism in the white Southern church and a parallel movement of Black gospel music beginning in the 1920’s, one of the most significant figures of which was Thomas Andrew Dorsey, known for the song “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” Meanwhile the blues arose around the work songs and “sorrow songs” of the plantation experience. While the connection with biblical faith may not be immediately evident, Edgar notes the connections with the laments of scripture, even noting the similar uses of parallelism.

The third part of the book focuses on jazz itself. Edgar traces its immediate origins to ragtime, stride piano and the music of New Orleans, introducing us to some of the greats of early jazz from Art Tatum, Buddy Bolden and James Reese, Louis Armstrong, “Jelly Roll” Morton, and Duke Ellington. He discusses their music and their spirituality. From “Jelly Roll” Morton, we get the dictum, “Rejoice at the death and cry at the birth: New Orleans sticks close to the scriptures,” another example of the sorrow to joy theme. He goes on to discuss the “midlife of jazz” in bebop and cool, focusing on “Dizzy” Gillespie, Charlie Parker and the great Miles Davis. The two following chapters then draw more specific connections of jazz and the gospel or spirituality in the life of jazz musicians offering examples from the work of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Duke Ellington, jazz pianist Billy Taylor, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, and others. Not all would be considered orthodox Christians by any means, but evidence of the hope of the gospel may be found in their work, according to Edgar.

The book concludes with Edgar’s seven joys of jazz: its bluesy ambiance, its strength to climb, the element of invention, the concept of “swing,” the solidarity of jazz musicians in which performances are conversations in music, the great art that arises from earthy roots, and finally the joy out of deep pain that Edgar attributes to the influence of the Christian message. I suspect some will want to contend this last, but Edgar’s cumulative case of history, contributing streams, and examples from some of the signature jazz greats offer a good explanation for the element of joy that distinguishes this music. I also found it interesting that Edgar contrasts the joy of this music with the “happy” feel of much White evangelical music. Jazz is rooted in both a more profound experience of pain and a more profound hope.

Edgar makes this argument without being polemical. I felt like I was in a jazz appreciation course, being invited to understand and appreciate and truly love the music Edgar loves. And he helps us cultivate that love as well. He includes a nine-page appendix of links to YouTube videos of performances by various artists organized by sub-genres and time periods. What a great way to introduce oneself to jazz in its various expressions and to explore for oneself the “supreme love” that Edgar believes is the source of the great joy in jazz.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: Created & Creating

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Created and Creating

Created & Creating, William Edgar. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017.

Summary: Explores the idea of “culture” from secular and Christians perspectives, explores the biblical basis for the culture mandate and continued cultural engagement, and the arguments raised against this idea.

Ever since the publication of Andy Crouch’s Culture-Making, there has been a renewed interest among many in engaging one’s culture, “seeking the peace and prosperity of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7). What William Edgar adds to this discussion is a biblical exploration of the basis Christians have for cultural engagement.

Edgar offers this definition of culture engagement, which also gives you a sense of the thesis of the book:

“Cultural engagement is the human response to the divine call to enjoy and develop the world that God has generously given to his image bearers. Culture includes the symbols, the tools, the conventions, the social ties, and all else contributing to this call. Cultural activity occurs in a historical setting, and is meant to improve the human condition.  Because of the fall, culture can, and has become sinister. Christ’s redeeming grace moves culture in the right direction, ennobles it, and allows it to extend the realm of God’s shalom, his goodness, his justice, his love” (pp. 233-234).

After an introductory chapter looking at definitions of culture, and the ideas of cultivation in scripture, Part One looks at the leading secular and Christian thinkers who have contributed to the discuss. There are Matthew Arnold, Marx, the anthropologists and sociologists like E. B. Tylor and Max Weber, and functionalists like A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski. He then considers Christian voices including Eliot, H. Richard Niebuhr, Lewis, Kuyper, and Klaas Schilder, who first coined the term “culture mandate.”

Part Two engages the objections raised to the culture mandate.  First he explores the contra mundum passages that seemingly set the gospel against the world and imply that cultural pursuits are distractions or simply idolatrous. Second is the idea that life in the world is spiritual resistance and conflict. The world is not our friend. And finally, it’s all going to burn. In these chapters, he acknowledges the force of these criticisms and yet distinguishes between the real consequences of the fall, and the defaced but not destroyed image of God in humans. In the final chapter in Part Two, he looks at the cosmic character of Christ’s redemptive work, portrayed both in Colossians 1:15-20, and in the Magnificat of Mary. The redemption covers all things in creation and human society.

Part Three then works these ideas out more fully. First Edgar considers the “cultural mandate” given the first couple before the fall–fruitfulness and dominion. He then traces how this was both worked out and marred in a post-fall world, how Israel anticipates the redemptive work of Christ. The chapter on culture in the new covenant makes an important argument for Christ’s great commission being a fulfillment and deeper implementation of the culture mandate, sending disciples to the dispersed nations, announcing God’s kingdom, discipling them to do all Christ has commanded in all of life–essentially a culture mandate for a redeemed world, anticipating the new heaven and earth. The last chapter in this part considers the afterlife, a culturally rich life enjoyed in the presence of God, at the great banquet of the bride with all the nations, and ruling and reigning and restoring.

Edgar’s brief epilogue points the way for further study, and how the study of the biblical cultural mandate lays the groundwork for human flourishing that is proximate, awaiting the final redemption of all things. Edgar in this book lays the groundwork for Christians joyfully pursuing Christ in “every good endeavor,” to use Tim Keller’s phrase. This is important for many Christians who refrain from these endeavors because they seem “worldly,” or pursue them, but do not see them as an integral part of a faithful Christian life. Edgar helps us see that the culture mandate is not opposed to the great commission, or superseded by it, but rather is fulfilled through it. In sum, Edgar helps us see all of life, and life’s possibilities through the eyes of Christ. How different life might be when everything matters!