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Stevens' songs pursue divine

By Jon Ward
September 23, 2005

One of indie rock's fastest-rising stars is following a trail blazed by Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. His name is Sufjan Stevens (pronounced Soof-yawn). He writes songs about a God with precise features; God is big, and a little scary, and man is, pardon the blasphemy, evil.
    Music about the God worshipped by John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards and Martin Luther is not exactly standard fare for indie rock fans. But Mr. Stevens' latest record, "Come On and Feel the Illinoise," his fifth album since 2000, is one of the best received indie rock albums of the year. His beautiful music has defied description, while his ambitious goal to write an album about each of the 50 U.S. states (Illinois was preceded by Michigan) has provoked amusement.
    But Mr. Stevens does not want to talk about his faith. He refused an interview with Christianity Today magazine and has even, at times, rejected the label of Christian. The question is, is he a cowardly Christian, or is he a savvy evangelist?
    "I'm not a theologian," the 30-year-old singer-songwriter said during a phone interview. "I'm uncomfortable speaking about sacred things in a public forum like a newspaper because it's all misunderstood. I try to keep these things to personal relationships."
    He writes songs about Jesus appearing to his disciples with his "clothes aflame," or about Abraham preparing to sacrifice his only son as a sacrifice for sins, but he clams up when asked about it.
    "I'm sure if I were to sit down with Jerry Falwell or anyone like that it would be very uncomfortable," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Yet in theological terms, we worship the same God, and that's a very awkward kind of thing to reconcile with. The religious environment is a big problem, but I don't really know how to start talking about it."
    The question is, why does he care so much about being misunderstood, or as he put it, "pigeonholed"? Is it because he doesn't want to be personally attacked or because he wants to be able to sing creative, moving, sometimes oblique songs about God to those who wouldn't normally listen?
    Is his concern for himself or for his message?
    Mr. Stevens' elusiveness about his faith brings to mind the advice of the famed Christian writer, intellectual and apologist, C.S. Lewis, who died in 1963.
    About 40 years ago, Mr. Lewis wrote an essay called "Christian Apologetics," in which he said, "What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects -- with their Christianity latent.
    "Our business," wrote Mr. Lewis, "is to present that which is timeless (the same yesterday, today and tomorrow) in the particular language of our own age."
    Mr. Lewis was advocating subtlety in a Christian's presentation of his faith. But make no mistake, his point was evangelistic. He was aware that Christianity teaches things that offend human pride and that it makes serious claims on its followers.