Getting the Blues: What Blues Music Teaches Us about Suffering and Salvation [Paperback]

Stephen J. Nichols (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

In Getting the Blues, Stephen Nichols shows how blues music offers powerful insight into the biblical narrative and the life of Jesus. Weaving Bible stories together with intriguing details of the lives of blues musicians, he leads readers in a vivid exploration of how blues music teaches about sin, suffering, alienation, and worship. Nichols unpacks the Psalms, portions of the prophets, and Paul's writings in this unique way, revealing new facets of Scripture.

Getting the Blues will resonate with all readers interested in Christianity and culture. In the end they will emerge with a greater understanding of the value of "theology in a minor key"--a theology that embraces suffering as well as joy.

EXCERPT
This book attempts a theology in a minor key, a theology that lingers, however uncomfortably, over Good Friday. It takes its cue from the blues, harmonizing narratives of Scripture with narratives of the Mississippi Delta, the land of cotton fields and Cyprus swamps and the moaning slide guitar. This is not a book by a musician, however, but by a theologian. And so I offer a theological interpretation of the blues. Cambridge theologian Jeremy Begbie has argued for music's intrinsic ability to teach theology. As an improvisation on Begbie's thesis, I take the blues to be intrinsically suited to teach a particular theology, a theology in a minor key. This is not to suggest that a theology in a minor key, or the blues for that matter, utterly sounds out despair like the torrents of a spinning hurricane. A theology in a minor key is no mere existential scream. In fact, a theology in a minor key sounds a rather hopeful melody. Good Friday yearns for Easter, and eventually Easter comes. Blues singers, even when groaning of the worst of times, know to cry out for mercy because they know that, despite appearances, Sunday's coming. . . . The blues, like the writings of Flannery O'Connor, need not mention him [Christ] in every line, or in every song, but he haunts the music just the same. At the end of the day, he serves as the resolution to the conflict churning throughout the blues, the conflict that keeps the music surging like the floodwaters of the Mississippi River.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's difficult to associate the loneliness and downright mournfulness of the blues with the joyful teachings on salvation that often characterize the Christian religion. Yet in this splendid little book, theologian Nichols engagingly reminds us that the musical genre of the blues helps us to understand what theologians call redemption. Drawing on a wide range of blues singers and their lyrics, he blends the strains of the blues into the harmonies of theology and scripture in order to compose a new song about the powerful manner in which the blues prepare us for understanding the mercy and love of God. In songs such as Mississippi John Hurt's Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, for example, the blues record the loneliness and the desolation the singer feels, and Nichols compares this to the desolation that Christ felt when God forsook him on the cross. Finally, in his mournful songs, Blind Lemon Jefferson juxtaposes the despair of failure with the hope that such failures can be overcome. Nichols's elegant study offers fresh insights into the blues and their meaning for religion. (Sept.)
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From the Back Cover

From the Promised Land to the Mississippi Delta

David expresses his dark side in the Psalms.

The prophets cry out in anguish and condemn social injustices.

And Paul bemoans his frailty as a man.

In Getting the Blues, Stephen Nichols examines this dissonance in the Bible--what he calls "theology in a minor key"--and leads readers in a vivid exploration of how blues music offers powerful insight into the biblical narrative and the life of Jesus.

Subtly weaving Bible stories together with intriguing details of the lives of blues musicians such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, Nichols reveals what blues music teaches about sin, suffering, alienation, and worship. He delves into how the blues can intensify our understanding of bondage to sin and redemption and how the blues encourage us to strive for justice and righteousness. In the end, readers will emerge with a deeper understanding of the value of a theology that lingers on the dark side and embraces Good Friday as well as Easter, suffering as well as joy.

"In the current cultural climate, surrounded by so much sentimentality, we need blues music and its Christian resonances as perhaps never before. Nichols's book should go a long way to putting this art form back on the theological agenda."--Jeremy Begbie, Duke University

"Too often the Blues is put in opposition to Spirituals. But when the church's songs stray too far from the cries of a broken humanity, they lose their truth, depth, and power. In Getting the Blues, Stephen Nichols compellingly shows how the minor key of the Blues resonates with the minor keys in scripture and theology. By attending closely to these 'blue notes' Nichols writes truthfully and wisely about God's ways with wayward children--not only famous ones like Muddy Waters and Ma Rainey, but also the likes of you and me."--Christian Scharen, Yale Center for Faith & Culture; author of One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587432129
• ISBN-13: 978-1587432125
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

STEPHEN J. NICHOLS (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is research professor of Christianity and culture at Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School. He has written several books, including Pages from Church History. He lives with his wife and two sons in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mac N' Cheese have nothing on this book November 7, 2008

By Scandalous Sanity VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Getting the Blues: What Blues Music Teaches Us About Suffering and Salvation by Stephen J. Nichols was definitely a great find. As one who knew practically nothing of the blues, this book opened my eyes to the soul behind the most soul-filled music ever created. Nichols also did an extremely well job of sticking to the thesis of this book and incorporating the very visible theological themes within this passionate genre of music.

The book doesn't stray far from the Delta River Blues and Blues musicians. As one of the oft-mentioned artist said, "Blues is the roots, the rest is the fruits." Nichols compares this area with that of Eden, a place where something more extrordinary began, but also a place where much torment and separation are always before your eyes and the back of your mind.

Nichols turns the Blues, which are generally thought of as extremely secular, into lessons on Christ, Suffering, Salvation, and Eternal Life in an extremely intricate way. You could definitely find some comfort in this book if you connect with the disheartened, and bedraggled of the world.

The only thing that really hindered my reading was the amount of lyrics inserted between Nichols own words to make his point. I can understand that attempting to make a point about a bunch of songs is difficult, especially when attempting to write for an audience that isn't familiar with these songs, but this made it seem like a college research paper. The points could have been made without so many. But, I would still recommend this book, it just may take a while to work through.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing look at Christian theology through the lens of blues music July 23, 2009

By Brandon Cozart

Format:Paperback

"The blues is a congregation that sings on Saturday night in expectation of Sunday" (171). The blues forces us to deal with the realities of life. The woman who "done me wrong," the death of friends, the strong allure of drink, smoke, and other vices. Yet at the same time, while in the fray of dealing with so much trouble, the blues points us to the hope of things to come. That glorious Sunday morning when all will be made right and salvation will surely come.

In his book, Getting the Blues: What Blues Music Teaches Us About Suffering and Salvation, Stephen J. Nichols takes us on a musical journey through the early 20th century Mississippi Delta in search of a theology in the minor key. Too many American evangelicals, he states, live life as though it is always "spring and summer without winter or fall. Or always Easter and never Good Friday" (14). This attitude, for the author, is simplistic and naďve at best, borderline blasphemous at worst. This is because it is a rejection of the experience and intent of Jesus Christ, who, though fully God, left the spring and summer of heaven to take on flesh and dwell in the winter and fall of earthly life.

Half history book, half theology book, Getting the Blues delves into how the blues can give us insight for living in this constant tension between reality and the hope to come. Comprised of six chapters, this book begins with an orientation to the world of the blues--its musical characteristics, origins, key players--as well as an introduction to the theological themes of the blues in a chapter entitled, "What Hath Mississippi to Do with Jerusalem." The second chapter, "I Be's Troubled," explores the relationship between what both the blues and the Bible have to say about the human condition. "Man of Sorrows" turns to the individual, casting King David as perhaps the earliest blues singer, drawing parallels between many of the lament Psalms and Mississippi Delta blues. Men are not the only ones to sing the blues, however, and Nichols next turns to the experience of women in the Delta and Naomi from the book of Ruth in "Woman of Sorrows."

After spending a fair amount of time in the fall and winter of life through the lens of blues singers and Biblical characters, Getting the Blues starts the journey toward Sunday, first in chapter 5, "Precious Lord." This chapter discusses Christ as the answer for the curse that all of us feel the effects of, and that blues singers so often sing of. Finally, chapter 6, "Come Sunday," brings us home, showing us the preferred answer of the blues singers to life's struggles and hardships. Nichols concludes, "The blues is ultimately an eschatology" (166): the blues acknowledges and deals with suffering, works to make things better while we're here, and looks forward to the day when everything is new and right.

This was quite a fascinating book to read on several points. The history of the early blues singers that the author presents is quite impactful and is a history that has largely been lost or passed over in American culture, though that history provided much of the foundation, especially musically, for later 20th century culture.

The theological themes that the author was able to find in the blues are an important corrective to the prevailing timbre of modern American evangelicalism. Though the struggles of life are somewhat acknowledged by this group, as evidenced by the plethora of "self-help" type books that line the shelves of Christian bookstores, much of American evangelicalism has no framework for how to deal with such struggles. Nichols, and the blues music he presents, calls evangelicals to fully acknowledge and embrace the trials of life as a universal experience to life under the curse. But at the same time, he urges looking to the person and work of Jesus, the only one who can rescue the downcast soul and who promises to bring his people home safe and sound.

If there is one fault of the book, it is back and forth between history of the blues and exploration of theological themes in the blues. While the history is certainly important for context, there was almost too much of it, at least in a book that's only 179 pages long. Because there was so much recounting of history, there was not as much theologizing on the blues as I had expected in approaching this book, and even much of what was there was, at times, bogged down by lengthy strings of quotes.

Despite this, however, I would absolutely recommend this book. The last chapter alone is well worth the price and launches the discussion of the blues's place in modern evangelicalism into a couple of very fascinating trajectories. Perhaps there will one day be entire volumes dedicated to developing the blues as an eschatology or the blues as an ecclesiology.

Getting the Blues is certainly an enjoyable and informative read, and one that would do many, especially evangelical Christians, good to read. Having been a blues fan for much of my life, this book has given me a deeper sense of what it means to have the blues, to sing the blues, and to find hope and life in the blues.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Look at "Real" Music January 12, 2010

By Jason Chamberlain VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

While I am not going to argue with Paul's words in Philippians, reality is also found in James 1:2 where we are told to rejoice "when trials come upon you," not "if." The blues deal with real life and Nichols does a great job of tying blues music to the gospel.

If you ever find yourself tiring of the happy-clappy joy-joy treacle found on Christian radio you should read this book. Not too many artists in the CCM scene have a name that starts with "Blind," like so many of the blues artists'. There are times when life is painful and the blues deal with that.