{"id":6667,"date":"2022-10-05T15:43:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T15:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=6667"},"modified":"2022-10-05T15:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T15:43:57","slug":"sermon-on-the-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/05\/sermon-on-the-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon on the Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Farewell, Josh Ritter<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Josh Ritter’s eighth studio album shows the singer-songwriter descending into smarm.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review by Charlie Clark
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Charles Taylor\u2019s A Secular Age<\/a><\/em> has been\u00a0remarkably helpful for understanding my past\u00a0as a teenage evangelical. I admit that\u2019s a lot like using sledgehammer to crack a walnut; A Secular Age<\/em> is 800+ pages of dense philosophical argument and my adolescence was not especially complex or atypical. Nevertheless, I’ve found Taylor\u2019s concepts useful for illuminating everything from my experience of prayer to my taste in music.<\/p>

In the mid-2000s, I was fascinated with doubt. Part of this fascination was just a natural bent towards intellectual inquiry. I thought what Descartes did in Meditations on First Philosophy<\/em> was badass. I was not cool.<\/p>

But I did listen to cool music. Cool music was full of the doubt I craved. It was full of ambiguity, especially where it brushed up against Christianity. So I loved Bright Eyes: \u201cHer bed beneath the crucifix, on guests performing miracles, \/ With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal. \/ \u2018When I do wrong, I am with God,\u2019 she thought.\u201d I\u00a0loved Sufjan Stevens: \u201cAll the glory when He took our place \/ But He took my shoulders and He shook my face, \/ And He takes and He takes and He takes.\u201d I loved Jenny Lewis: \u201cBut in the desert underneath the charging sky \/ It\u2019s just you and God. \/ But what if God\u2019s not there? \/ But His name is on your dollar bill \/ Which just became cab fare.\u201d Most of all, I loved Josh Ritter.<\/p>

Charles Taylor helped me understand this craving for doubt by getting\u00a0beyond the binary of belief and unbelief. In Taylor\u2019s lexicon (for a very useful introduction and overview, see Jamie Smith\u2019s summary of Taylor, How (Not) to Be Secular<\/a><\/em>), people may be either \u201copen\u201d or \u201cclosed,\u201d that is, believers or unbelievers in the transcendent, but they also can hold that position either as a \u201ctake\u201d or a \u201cspin.\u201d A take recognizes the availability\u00a0of counterevidence and the contestability of one\u2019s position. A spin attempts to explain away everything that apparently contradicts it so that it becomes the only perspective possible. I see now that in my religious life I was stuck in an \u201copen spin.\u201d The intellectual framework attached to my religious background was essentially fundamentalist, \u201cspinny.\u201d I was powerfully attracted to anything \u201ctakeish\u201d whether open or closed.<\/p>

In my reading, this attraction led me to Rob Bell, Donald Miller, and others in the emerging church movement. I ate up Velvet Elvis<\/em>, Blue Like Jazz<\/em>, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/em>. True, I had some misgivings about these writers. Was that open-mindedness or just fuzzy thinking? Epistemic humility or intellectual laziness? But overall, their perspective was enormously helpful in creating space for me to question faithfully.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Uncertainty is the only truthful response to reality.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Josh Ritter was a big part of this. In songs like \u201cLawrence, KS\u201d (\u201cPreacher says that when the master call us \/ He\u2019s going to give us wings to fly \/ But my wings are made of hay and corn husks \/ So I can\u2019t leave this world behind.\u201d) and \u201cWings\u201d (\u201cThe saints and all the martyrs \/ Look down on dying converts. \/ \u2018What makes the water holy,\u2019 she said, \/ \u201cIs that it\u2019s the closest thing to rain.\u201d), he wrote beautiful characters that wrestled with God, who sometimes believed and sometimes didn\u2019t but who never belonged to themselves. In \u201cGolden Age of Radio,\u201d there\u2019s a line so perfect in its takeishness that you can\u2019t tell whether the take is open or closed: \u201cHave mercy on this boy. \/ He did it all by the book. \/ But he still kind of has his doubts.\u201d<\/p>

The Animal Years<\/em> is Ritter at his most takeish. In an interview<\/a> with American Songwriter<\/em> around the time of its release,\u00a0he said, \u201cEveryone seems to feel so right about themselves, and I just don\u2019t feel that way\u2026. I don\u2019t feel sure about anything.\u201d You can hear his annoyance at the self-righteousness of spin. Uncertainty is the only truthful response to reality. On this album, Ritter can criticize religion at every turn (\u201cPeter said to Paul, \u2018You know all those words we wrote \/ Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go.\u2019\u201d), engage in a little misotheism<\/a> (\u201cIf God\u2019s up there he\u2019s in a cold, dark room, \/ The heavenly hosts are just the cold, dark moons. \/ Bent down and made the world in seven days, \/ And ever since he\u2019s been a-walking away.\u201d), and still offer up a prayer to the deus absconditus<\/em> (\u201cIt\u2019s hard to see how there could be \/ So much dark inside the light. \/ Don\u2019t you leave us in the dark.\u201d). His ability to critique without pushing his own dogma, to question without lapsing into relativism, these truly helped me to come to terms with my own take, however different it was from his.<\/p>

Yet even as Ritter, Bell, Miller, and others were helping me to become more comfortable with my doubts, to find beauty in uncertainty, and to experience faith as trust, there was that suspicion. You couldn\u2019t help but notice that beside all the affirmation of questions and embrace of doubt, there was a certain lack of imagination. Doubt had a certain predictable drift. The holes poked in the Christian narrative were consistently patched with the expressive individualism and secular humanism of National Public Radio, the civil religion of WEIRDistan<\/a>.\u00a0And this patching material\u00a0received so little scrutiny in turn that, at the risk of cynicism, one wondered whether it\u00a0represented the doubters\u2019 true convictions. Rob Bell proved to be an interesting test case.<\/p>

I don\u2019t suppose we will ever know exactly what John Piper meant by tweeting \u201cFarewell Rob Bell,\u201d but it did seem that with Love Wins<\/a> <\/em>Bell had turned a corner. The sneaking suspicion that maybe Bell thought he had God more figured out (or perhaps \u201cboxed in\u201d) than he was letting on was getting harder to ignore. By the time we got What We Talk About When We Talk About God<\/a><\/em>, the transformation was complete. God is \u201cour brushes with spirit,\u00a0our awareness\u00a0of the reverence humming within us.\u201d He is mostly depersonalized and completely defanged\u2014content to be just what we think we need. It\u2019s the now familiar<\/a> tale<\/a> of Oprahfication<\/a>, the capture of spirituality by what Taylor would call a Closed World System. Bell had lost his takeishness. In Bell\u2019s new closed spin, God was just another name for the brass heaven; no more surprise attacks on our consumerist individualism.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The possibility of being wrong, the threat of being held accountable, every self-doubt is exorcised.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Though I hate to say it, Sermon on the Rocks<\/a><\/em> is Josh Ritter\u2019s Love Wins<\/em>. And like with Rob Bell or Donald Miller or the other Oprahfiers, we kind of saw this coming. I wanted to give Ritter the benefit of the doubt, to believe he could stay takeish. The “Upper Middle Brow<\/a>\u201d was crouching at the door, but \u201cTimshel<\/em>.\u201d I knew we had dodged a bullet with The Beast in Its Tracks<\/a><\/em>. It was a breakup album. It was personal. And yet, Ritter hadn\u2019t \u201cfully succumbed to self-delight<\/a>.\u201d This time, I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>

Ritter has described the style of Sermon on the Rocks<\/em> as \u201cmessianic oracular honky-tonk.\u201d On the album\u2019s opening track, \u201cBirds of the Meadow,\u201d he takes on the persona of a street-corner doomsdayer with shades of Hazel Motes: \u201cI come to tell you that the end is nigh \/ I come to prophesy. [\u2026] Before the whole thing’s over you’re gonna shout my name \/ I don’t care if you believe me.\u201d There is no precedent in Ritter\u2019s catalog for this presumptuousness, this claim to speak with authority. Even the spurned lover of Beast<\/em> peppered his complaints with \u201cperhapses.\u201d But on the very next track, Young Moses doubles down on the prophetic bravado: \u201cI do not need your mansions. \/ I will live in a house of soul. [\u2026] I\u2019ve been up on the mountain. \/ I\u2019ve been to the end of the line. \/ I\u2019ve pierced the fiery curtain, \/ And the only face I touched was mine.\u201d<\/p>

Ritter\u2019s characters are suddenly full of proclamations. They\u2019re sure of themselves and so, it seems, is he. The possibility of being wrong, the threat of being held accountable, every self-doubt is exorcised. Ritter has never identified with this preachy, spinny disposition before. Like one of the old Ritter\u2019s Pharisees, the new Ritter \u201cshouts to the converted.\u201d<\/p>

And it\u2019s boring. A spin is a reductionist echo chamber where characters become caricatures. This is painfully obvious on the album\u2019s lead single, \u201cGetting Ready to Get Down,\u201d which besides being a total dumpster fire on a technical level (With monotone, rapid-fire verses, a pointless hook, and cheesy production, it\u2019s Ritter\u2019s \u201cMacarena.\u201d), shares far too much narrative DNA with Footloose<\/em>. Clich\u00e9s abound as a young libertine with a heart of gold faces off against the Ladies Auxiliary in a small town untouched by the sexual revolution: \u201cNow, people cross the street when you walk in their direction \/ Talk between their teeth and throwin’ epithets. [\u2026] Back off the bus in your own hometown \/ Say you didn’t like me then, you probably won’t like me now.\u201d And lest there be any confusion about his appraisal of this self-satisfaction, Ritter hastens to add, \u201cWhen you get damned in the popular opinion, \/ It’s just another damn of the damns you’re not giving.\u201d<\/p>

Once upon a time, Ritter said, \u201cThe important thing for me was to write about the ambiguity and the uncertainty in the world. I think that\u2019s an under-expressed sentiment.\u201d But what he\u2019s doing on Sermon on the Rocks<\/em>, this full-throated embrace of expressive individualism, this identification of self-actualization with sexual liberty, this is pure smarm<\/a>. These are the most run-of-the-mill, over-expressed sentiments our cultural moment has to offer.<\/p>

So farewell, Josh Ritter. I\u2019ll see your show whenever you\u2019re in town, and I\u2019ll buy your next ten records. But if I\u2019m right (and I hope I\u2019m not), you\u2019re on a slippery slope to irrelevance. Not that you can\u2019t turn this around. \u201cHenrietta, Indiana\u201d reminds me of the good times we had. \u201cMy Man on a Horse (Is Here)\u201d is a gem. So I\u2019m not certain. I\u2019m withholding judgment. I\u2019m trying to stay takeish. Go and do likewise.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Charlie Clark<\/strong> is a writer and retractor<\/a>. He lives in New Hampshire.<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sermon on the Rocks<\/strong> was released on August 28, 2015 by Pytheas Recordings<\/span>. You can listen to it here<\/a>. <\/em>
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Josh Ritter’s eighth studio album shows the singer-songwriter descending into smarm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-archive","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farefwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1664983387.jpg?fit=1500%2C1366&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6667"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6667\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6667"}],"wp:term":[{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