Classical pianist Jacqueline Chew
Posted on 06/20/2005 10:35:27 AM PDT by TFFKAMM
Classical pianist Jacqueline Chew rebelled against her Christian upbringing and became an atheist while attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the 1970s. But her love of music eventually led her back to a spiritual life.
Chew was so taken with the work of Olivier Messiaen, a pioneering French composer known for his sacred Catholic music, that after hearing his composition "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus" ("Twenty Contemplations of the Infant Jesus"), she began questioning her belief that God does not exist. The more she learned about the music, the more religious she became.
Next month, Chew, who released a CD of "Vingt Regards" last year, will take her interest in Catholicism to a new level. She will be received as an oblate, a layperson living outside a monastery who promises to follow the rules of St. Benedict in her private life, at the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a community of monks in Big Sur.
Tell me about your upbringing. Were you raised in a religious family?
Yeah, my whole family is Christian. My parents came from different places, but they ended up in Oakland and met at a Chinese Presbyterian church there. They were very active in the church while I was growing up.
Do you remember any spiritual experiences as a child?
Well, I remember that when I was in the sixth grade, I did a report on different religions. I decided that even though I was brought up as a Presbyterian, I wanted to make my own decisions about what I believed...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Classical pianist Jacqueline Chew
Would you be so kind as to ping the list?
ping
Bump!
PRAISE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
OPS4 God BLess America!
byyy
Gotta love that Messiaen -- and to think it has brought someone back to Christ!
ping!
Some of it almost sounds good
And some of it sounds like the orchestra is tuning up.
I've noticed that most intellectual converts to christianity go to Catholicism. Any ideas on why this is?
For some reason Catholicism has a strong link to intellectuals... examples: William F. Buckley, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, etc...
I suspect because Catholicism offers a full-orbed robust world view. Most evangelical protestant denominations provide rather anemic, thin gruel for believers after conversion. And i write as a protestant convert from catholicism. There is too little emphasis on the objective application of the faith, too much navel-gazing. An aversion to "legalism" translates into a faith dominated by morbid introspection.
Hard-core Reformed (calvinist) believers enjoy the same sense of fitting into the world for God's purposes. Both families of faith stress infant baptism and the cultivation of the mind through subsequent catechisms and Christian (parochial) education.
CS Lewis was not a Catholic, but Chesterton became one. Catholicism has quite an intellectual heritage. Just studying their history would interest intellectuals.
I'm glad you mentioned Calvinism becaue I don't find that anemic at all. I grew up Southern Baptist, but found it unsatisfying in college. That's when I found the reformed Presbyterians and I was transfixed with the depth of teaching I found there. It truly fed my soul. For a number of reasons, I've been back at a Baptist church (thought not S. Baptist) and although this church has a robust faith-centered community life, I'm finding the teaching short of the depth of Calvinism. As soon as my daughter leaves home, I will search for a reformed Presbyterian church again.
"Most evangelical protestant denominations provide rather anemic, thin gruel for believers after conversion."
What do you mean? Too much "feeling", not enough "thinking"?
Renaissance polyphony but why the stupid name?
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