The Spirit in the Sky

(Hardback)

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Description

Music is the language of the spirit, wrote Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.

Music has the power to change lives. The power to bring peace and comfort. The power to help us make sense of our emotions and feelings, both the bitter and the sweet. The power to push back against strife and division in our lives and our world. The power to suggest answers to the questions we ask, and to guide our spirits.

In Spirit in the Sky: Pop, Rock, R&B, and the Search for the Transcendent, a life-long student of recorded music what the author calls his language of the soul explores a mosaic of influential artists as he constructs a spirituality of pop, rock, soul, and R&B music and guides readers to be attentive to their souls, their hopes, their questions by listening to music past and present with an ear for the voice of God. Along the way, readers will be introduced to (or reminded of) a host of artists who have pointed the way forward through a diverse range of styles and approaches: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Staple Singers, The Indigo Girls, Janice Ian, Carly Simon, Marvin Gaye, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), The Beatles, Van Morrison, and others.

Equal parts memoir, popular musicology, and spiritual exploration, The Spirit in the Sky is a book borne of a pursuit of the spiritual life, formed in large part through paying attention to the content of popular music and the questions it has prompted.

Author Bio

Jeff Crosby currently serves as the president and CEO of ECPA, a trade association of Christian publishing with members and affiliates located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and beyond. For nearly 25 years he held two separate executive positions at IVP, a publisher of trade and academic Christian books. After 18 years as the senior marketing and sales executive, Jeff served as IVPs publisher and CEO for my final five-plus years there. Jeff has worked in the world of Christian literature all his career, dating back to 1983 and the Logos Bookstore his wife, Cindy, and his owned and managed near Indiana University in Bloomington.

Married to a writer and educator who is the author, compiler or contributor to more than 20 books herself, Jeff and his wife live in the western suburbs of Chicago and are the parents of two children and six grandchildren. They attend an ELCA Lutheran Church in Glen Ellyn, where they are active in adult education.