I encourage R&T readers to check out a recent article in America magazine by Bill McGarvey about the band Mumford and Sons.  While I can’t say I am a huge fan of this band (more my fault than theirs), I do appreciate their musicianship and I believe McGarvey highlights an important point that many of us who contribute to this blog would also support–that popular music can hold a spiritual significance without being relegated to the label of “Christian Rock”.  Mumford and Sons does connect with listeners in a spiritually important way–I’ve observed this with students on the University of Detroit Mercy campus where I work.  In fact, a student suggested that my campus ministry team use a Mumford and Sons track for a midnight Ash Wednesday prayer service.  I often feel a tension between wanting to know exactly what it is about a particular song or band that connects deeply with someone, on the one hand, and just accepting that there is something special there that I do not need to understand in order to respect and believe it.

Can any Mumford and Sons fans chime in here?

Dave Nantais, Detroit, MI

 

Eric Bugyis, at the dotCommonweal blog, recently argued that Mumford and Sons is a post-Christian band and is peddling music that is less than spiritually satisfying here.

Color me utterly unfamiliar with the band, but ready to learn. Frankly, I was unsure whether the real target of Bugyis’ criticism was the band’s music or the opinions of the rock critic Ann Powers. I wonder if R&T readers familiar with Mumford and Sons agree with Bugyis’ assessment.

Here is Mumford and Sons’ “Little Lion Man”:

Tommy Beaudoin, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York