One of my (Orin’s) other hats in life is as an assistant director for (and singer in) the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. Our artistic director, Philip Barnes, is celebrating his 30th season with the group this year, and Aquinas Institute of Theology (where I graduated from in 2008) awarded him an honorary doctorate this past week.
Now, the Chamber Chorus is unaffiliated and has no religious leanings at all, so it might seem odd that a theological institute would offer its director such an award. Yet, the work of the chorus, led by, now, “Dr. Phil,” touches on many key aspects of what it means to live a faith-filled life and to bring beauty and truth to the world:
1 – Philip has pursued reconstruction of centuries-old sacred music, in some cases partially destroyed by hungry mice – music which would not be ever heard again without such pursuits;
2 – The chorus actively explores many sacred spaces and architectural treasures in the metro area, bringing people who otherwise would be unaware to these beautiful and transcendent spaces;
3 – The chorus commissions and performs new works, frequently with sacred texts and most of the time includes works from women composers, both current and historical – people who remain underrepresented in music.
By these activities, the Chorus and Philip specifically bring, without any specific intent, a significant amount of Christian beauty, truth, and indeed even justice to the community at large. Karl Rahner once speculated on the concept of the “Anonymous Christian” similarly (though not without some criticism)… And pondering the awarding of this honorary degree has led me in recent days to ponder – what is it I might be doing to encourage others, particularly those whose faith is not as strong as my own, to bring beauty and truth into the world and for those same people to perhaps even encounter the divine and, without being explicit about such things, even perhaps grow closer to God and strong in belief?
Congratulations Philip and the SLCC!