American Band Rock: Jonathan Rundman's Sound Theology

I read about this album at Paste magazine’s site, and I decided immediately to order it. Jonathan Rundman’s Sound Theology is a two volume album which has 52 songs, a song for each week in the Church Year. Singer/songwriter Rundman, a Lutheran Christian from the Midwest, decided to embark on an ambitious project. Following the Church calendar (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, etc.), he would produce an album of songs that went along with this calendar.

Church Year: each week is given a different designation to lead congregations in their devotions and meditations. Lectionary: each week readings from the Bible are assigned to match the theme or topic of the week. Rundman’s album attempts to pick up on those themes and provide a soundtrack for the Church Year.

What sets Rundman’s ambitious project apart from what others might create is Rundman’s honest approach. The sound of the music comes out of the American Band Rock section of the Spectrum. While Rundman doesn’t have a set line up for his band and often plays most of the instruments himself, what emerges is a distinctly band sound—crafted to work together as a whole.

Sound Theology has an honest sound that I hear in R.E.M. albums like Reckoning or Fables of the Reconstruction. This is the band playing down the street in the garage or basement; this is your friends recording their own demos; this is hearing the college band and realizing they could be great someday. This isn’t fancy production; this isn’t completely polished. This is a most honest sound which invites you right in. Many Christian artists might attempt a project like this, but Christian production has been notoriously clean and perfect, leaving you with music that doesn’t invite you to be a part of the music like Rundman’s Sound Theology does.

Plus Rundman is extremely honest in his lyrics and approach to his faith. This isn’t holier than thou, grand poems which present a Christian who has everything together. Rundman rather discusses the struggles in his faith, the conflicts in churches, the difficulties of being a Christian. And he’s not afraid to discuss the other aspects of life: love, daily life, etc. Therefore, “Carol of the Bells” isn’t a Christmas carol; it’s a song about falling in love with Carol who plays in the bell choir at church.

Inspired by this album’s unique approach to the faith, I have decided to use the songs in a new Bible study at our church. Called MonDevotions, we’re taking one song each week during Lent and using it to lead our discussions and meditations on Scripture. You can follow these devotions at a new site, mondevotions.blogspot.com. After Lent, I hope to continue to provide a weekly devotion which uses the power of music to lead us to consider faith in our lives; my goal is to use music by non-Christian artists as well as Christians.

Thanks to Jonathan Rundman for his permission to use his music as a part of these devotions. Check out www.jonathanrundman.com and Salt Lady Records.