Traditions of Sacred Sound in Philosophy, Art, and Music
Traditions of Sacred Sound in Philosophy, Art, and Music
This four-week course explores sacred sound as a philosophical, artistic, and religious practice across diverse traditions. Taking “resonance” as a guiding concept, the course examines how sound functions as metaphysics, prayer, healing, and presence, while tracing its role in shaping ethical and communal life. Through case studies drawn from the works of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, Chilean poet-artist Cecilia Vicuña, and Sri Lankan Sufi master M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, participants will engage in an interdisciplinary inquiry that bridges theology, musicology, and cultural studies. The course highlights how sacred sound both expresses continuity between metaphysics and lived experience and opens possibilities for interreligious dialogue and social transformation.
Additional Information
·Prerequisite: Although the course engages advanced themes, it is designed to be accessible to learners at all levels. No prior knowledge of the Islamic intellectual tradition is required.
·Learning Outcome: By the end of the course, students will have gained conceptual and experiential tools to engage critically and creatively with sacred sound across philosophical, artistic, and religious traditions.
·Readings: Assigned readings and listening selections are to be completed prior to each class (see Schedule of Meetings and Readings).
·Class Structure: Each class is ninety minutes long, with 60 minutes devoted to lecture and thirty minutes to Q&A and discussion.
·Q&A Protocol: Students may pose questions through Zoom’s “raise hand” feature or chat box; the instructor will respond during or after the lecture.
Kythe Heller is an award-winning poet, essayist, interdisciplinary artist, and scholar. She earned a ThD/PhD at Harvard University in Comparative Studies in Religion, with a PhD secondary field in Literary Arts, Film, and Visual Studies/Critical Media Practice. Previously, she received an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and a BA in English Literature from Reed College.
Recently published work includes a collection of poems, Firebird (Arrowsmith), nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award, an edited collection of literary translations, essays, and visual art, The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow/El alma se mueve en la sombra (Stenen Press, co-edited with Carolina Gómez-Montoya), winner of the Independent Press Book Awards, writing and intermedia works including Thunder Perfect Mind (with photographer Meka Tome) and Rite of Spring (with Meghan McNealy), and several critical studies of medieval and contemporary mysticism and spirituality, phenomenology of the senses, poetics, and socially-engaged arts, in Arvo Pärt’s White Light: Media, Culture, Politics (Cambridge University Press), Quo Anima: Innovation and Spirituality in Contemporary Poetry (Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics), “The Heart Receptive of Every Form: Representations of Fire in the unio mystica of Mahomet (Mi’raj-Nameh (1436) Manuscript)” (Harvard Divinity School Graduate Journal), and poetry and essays in The American Poetry Review, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, The Southern Review, and others.. She has received fellowships and grant awards from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to support a fellowship at The MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, The Mellon Foundation, Harvard University, and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Film, music, performance, and installation work has been screened and exhibited at festivals in the United States and Canada.
She is also the founder and creative director of Vision Lab, a global art and research collective based at Harvard Divinity School and creating work to address contemporary spirituality, social and environmental justice, and technology. She edits the international art and culture journal Forecast, and is a faculty member of Bard College's Language and Thinking Program.
KYTHE HELLER ThD/PhD
https://studyofreligion.fas.harvard.edu/directory/kythe-heller/
BOOKS:
THE SOUL CONVEYS ITSELF IN SHADOW / El alma se mueve en la sombra
FFALL 2025
Traditions of Sacred Sound in Philosophy, Art, and Music
Dr. Kythe Heller, ThD (Harvard University)
4-Week Course | November 2025
Thursdays, 7:00–8:30 PM (ET) | Online