Author: Ben Lewellyn-Taylor
-
nonsermon #5: my prayers
Originally posted on NEW SOUTH: by Ben Lewellyn-Taylor I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer: what it does, how different people practice it, if it works. Mostly, I’d like to know why it worked for me for so many years, then it didn’t. I cannot place the moment it happened, but over time, when I…
-
nonsermon #4: my unbelief
Originally posted on NEW SOUTH: by Ben Lewellyn-Taylor Although these nonsermons are decidedly against preaching, I am still drawn to a particular Gospel narrative that speaks to me even now. The story of Matthew 9 states that when a man asks Jesus to rid his son of a bad spirit, Jesus tells him that all…
-
nonsermon #3: my meanings
Originally posted on NEW SOUTH: by Ben Llewellyn-Taylor For most of my life, Christianity defined my experiences of meaning-making in this world. I was raised in the church, came to my own beliefs in high school and college, and shaped my understanding of the world around mine and others’ interpretations of the Bible. When I began to…
-
nonsermon #2: my selves
Originally posted on NEW SOUTH: by Ben Lewellyn-Taylor If you’ll forgive me, I’m going to use this space to talk about myself, because I am both the subject I know the best and also—it sometimes seems—not at all. As these nonsermons are inspired by e.e. cummings’ nonlectures, I am drawn to his reasoning for spending…
-
nonsermon #1: my religion
Originally posted on NEW SOUTH: by Ben Lewellyn-Taylor In 1952, e.e. cummings was invited to Harvard for a series of what he referred to as nonlectures. From the outset, cummings clarified that he had no interest in the traditional lecture form: “Lecturing is presumably a form of teaching; and presumably a teacher is somebody who…
-
Soundtrack to My Year, 2018 (vol. 6)
Last year, I started writing for DJBooth, a publication that covers hip hop and which I deeply revere. I wrote three articles in 2017 and set a personal goal to double that in 2018. I’m now ending the year with 14 articles written for DJBooth in 2018, in addition to my first academic article on hip hop…
-
My 2018 Bookshelf
Every year I make a list of my favorite albums, but I realized I never share the books that I read. In 2018, I read 80 books, and I figured it would help my own memory if I took the time to note the ones that made an impact on me. Perhaps you’ll find something…
-
The Age of Solitude (Short Film)
In 2014, I began an era of artistic output known as The Age of Solitude, which included letters of poetry mailed out and culminated in the release of the 2016 album, my anxious age. In conjunction with my performance of the album, I wrote a short film that Noël Wiggins produced and directed. Previously unshared, the film is…
-
To Catch Up With Oneself
Almost two years ago, I made the decision to leave my role as a middle and high school teacher to pursue a Master’s in Theological Studies. It was both a difficult step to take, and also one I felt was necessary in order to follow a dream I had to research religion and music more…
-
New Poem: “The One About Us”
I have a new poem in Issue #15 of FreezeRay Poetry, an online poetry journal I admire. The poem is about family, technology, Seinfeld, and the ways that narratives we haven’t lived can still haunt us. You can read (and hear me reading!) “The One About Us” and the rest of Issue #15 here. All of my writings can…
Ben Lewellyn-Taylor 