Michael Kaler
Biographic Data
| ID | 978320 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Kaler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Kaler |
| SIGNATURE | KALER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0480-7605 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Practice of Musical Improvisation: Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers by Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet
Michael Kaler reviews The Practice of Musical Improvisation: Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers by Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet
The Free Musics
and the Story of Free Improvisation), and Davey Williams (Solo Gig)-and now Jack Wright's book as well. If we include discussions of free improvisation in works on free jazz or modern experimental music, or how-to manuals such as John Stevens's, we are fast approaching the point where we'd need . . . well, at least a couple of shelves in a bookcase to house it all. In other words, a not-insignificant number of people have spent a lot of time thin…
The Rebirth of Improvisation as a Site for Religious Studies Research
In this article, I propose that studies of music's links to religion go beyond reductionistic links between religious traditions and music forms (e.g., "Music and/in Islam"), and look instead at ways in which music responds to or expresses concerns or aspirations that are linked to religion or spirituality. The article further proposes that, should this approach be adopted, the explosion of radical improvised music-making in the 1960s (associated…
Music and the Divine: The Acid Tests and their Role in the Grateful Dead’s Foundation Story
In this article I discuss the way in which the Acid Tests, multimedia parties organized by author Ken Kesey in 1965 and 1966, were interpreted by the Grateful Dead, who played at the Acid Tests and were one of the most successful of the bands to emerge from the 1960s psychedelic scene in rock. In examining the construction of the meaning and significance of the Tests that band members created, we see a group that in many ways resembles a new reli…
Religious Imperatives, Boogaloo Rhythms: Taking another Listen to Albert Ayler’s New Grass
In this article I discuss free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler’s album New Grass, released in 1968. Although Ayler’s early works have entered the jazz canon, this album has been seen as the beginning of his decline and also as a sellout. I argue that by taking Ayler’s messianic religious convictions into account, we cannot only understand New Grass better but can also see how it fits into his career as a whole and widen our understanding of the way…
Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock since the 1960s
Halliwell an opportunity to share their love and their understanding of progressive rock with their readers; exposing the broad outlines of the genre from its inception in the psychedelic era, through its alleged death at the hands of punk, to its descent underground in the 1980s and its slow mutation and eventual re-emergence.Yet, despite what its title may suggest, it is neither a complete history of progressive rock nor a textbook, as the auth…
"Introduction to "Gnosticism: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds
Searching for the (Sacred) Sound: Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead, and Religion
In addition to being recognized for their musical contributions, the Grateful Dead were also well known (indeed, notorious) for espousing a world view that can in many ways be described as religious, and for inspiring great devotion among their fans. There have been a number of scholarly discussions of religious aspects of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but these discussions usually have to do either with the interpretive lens through which their …
Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature Birger A. Pearson Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007. xiii + 362 p
The cultic milieu, Nag Hammadi collectors and gnosticism
In this paper, I address the question of the applicability of sociological church/sect/cult typologies to the study of gnosticism, arguing that at least in the case of the Nag Hammadi collection, such typologies are unable to adequately deal with the evidence that we possess. Instead, I will show that Colin Campbell's idea of a "cultic milieu," a sort of esoteric underworld from which cult movements and sects arise, is a more helpful model for un…
The Letter of Peter to Philip and its Message of Gnostic Revelation and Christian Unity
In this article I discuss the Letter of Peter to Philip, one of the gnostic documents found in the Nag Hammadi collection, as well as in the recently published Codex Tchacos. In prior work on the Letter, questions have been raised with regard to its overall coherence, the precise nature of its relationship to the canonical book of Acts, and the reasons for including it in Nag Hammadi Codex VIII in late antiquity. In my response to these questions…
Coptic in Twenty Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Exercises and Vocabularies
From the Prayer of the Apostle Paul to the Three Steles of Seth: Codices I, XI and VII from Nag Hammadi Viewed as a Collection
While the individual texts in the various codices found near Nag Hammadi have been studied and discussed, relatively little attention has been paid to the motives underlying their original selection and organisation. Codices I, XI and VII in particular have been shown on palaeographical and codicological grounds to make up a sub-collection within the larger Nag Hammadi collection. Despite their doctrinal diversity, the texts found in these three …
Was Heracleon a Valentinian? A New Look at Old Sources
Heracleon was a great second-century Christian thinker, and the author of the first known commentary on a New Testament text, the Gospel of John. Although we do not have Heracleon's commentary itself, Origen integrated a great deal of it into his own commentary on the fourth gospel
Towards an expanded understanding of Nag Hammadi Paulinism
This article examines the scholarly construct of Paulinism, discussing its origins and briefly tracing its evolution, from F. C. Baur's introduction of the concept to a new, widened paradigm inaugurated by Hans-Martin Schenke (among others), symbolically coming to maturity in the 1987 conference on Paul and the Legacies of Paul. With this new understanding of Paulinism has come an expansion of its field of application. This article suggests that …
Early Christianity, Gnosticism and Manichaeism at Université Laval
Littérature et histoire du christianisme ancien
Littérature et histoire du christianisme ancien. Un article de la revue Laval théologique et philosophique (Le discours intérieur. Antiquité, Moyen Âge, époque contemporaine : autour d’un ouvrage récent de Claude Panaccio) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit
"Introduction to "Gnosticism: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds
From the Prayer of the Apostle Paul to the Three Steles of Seth: Codices I, XI and VII from Nag Hammadi Viewed as a Collection
While the individual texts in the various codices found near Nag Hammadi have been studied and discussed, relatively little attention has been paid to the motives underlying their original selection and organisation. Codices I, XI and VII in particular have been shown on palaeographical and codicological grounds to make up a sub-collection within the larger Nag Hammadi collection. Despite their doctrinal diversity, the texts found in these three …
Religious Imperatives, Boogaloo Rhythms: Taking another Listen to Albert Ayler’s New Grass
In this article I discuss free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler’s album New Grass, released in 1968. Although Ayler’s early works have entered the jazz canon, this album has been seen as the beginning of his decline and also as a sellout. I argue that by taking Ayler’s messianic religious convictions into account, we cannot only understand New Grass better but can also see how it fits into his career as a whole and widen our understanding of the way…
Searching for the (Sacred) Sound: Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead, and Religion
In addition to being recognized for their musical contributions, the Grateful Dead were also well known (indeed, notorious) for espousing a world view that can in many ways be described as religious, and for inspiring great devotion among their fans. There have been a number of scholarly discussions of religious aspects of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but these discussions usually have to do either with the interpretive lens through which their …
Early Christianity, Gnosticism and Manichaeism at Université Laval
Littérature et histoire du christianisme ancien
Littérature et histoire du christianisme ancien. Un article de la revue Laval théologique et philosophique (Le discours intérieur. Antiquité, Moyen Âge, époque contemporaine : autour d’un ouvrage récent de Claude Panaccio) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit
Early Christianity, Gnosticism and Manichaeism at Université Laval
Towards an expanded understanding of Nag Hammadi Paulinism
This article examines the scholarly construct of Paulinism, discussing its origins and briefly tracing its evolution, from F. C. Baur's introduction of the concept to a new, widened paradigm inaugurated by Hans-Martin Schenke (among others), symbolically coming to maturity in the 1987 conference on Paul and the Legacies of Paul. With this new understanding of Paulinism has come an expansion of its field of application. This article suggests that …
Was Heracleon a Valentinian? A New Look at Old Sources
Heracleon was a great second-century Christian thinker, and the author of the first known commentary on a New Testament text, the Gospel of John. Although we do not have Heracleon's commentary itself, Origen integrated a great deal of it into his own commentary on the fourth gospel
From the Prayer of the Apostle Paul to the Three Steles of Seth: Codices I, XI and VII from Nag Hammadi Viewed as a Collection
While the individual texts in the various codices found near Nag Hammadi have been studied and discussed, relatively little attention has been paid to the motives underlying their original selection and organisation. Codices I, XI and VII in particular have been shown on palaeographical and codicological grounds to make up a sub-collection within the larger Nag Hammadi collection. Despite their doctrinal diversity, the texts found in these three …
Coptic in Twenty Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Exercises and Vocabularies
Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature Birger A. Pearson Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007. xiii + 362 p
The cultic milieu, Nag Hammadi collectors and gnosticism
In this paper, I address the question of the applicability of sociological church/sect/cult typologies to the study of gnosticism, arguing that at least in the case of the Nag Hammadi collection, such typologies are unable to adequately deal with the evidence that we possess. Instead, I will show that Colin Campbell's idea of a "cultic milieu," a sort of esoteric underworld from which cult movements and sects arise, is a more helpful model for un…
The Letter of Peter to Philip and its Message of Gnostic Revelation and Christian Unity
In this article I discuss the Letter of Peter to Philip, one of the gnostic documents found in the Nag Hammadi collection, as well as in the recently published Codex Tchacos. In prior work on the Letter, questions have been raised with regard to its overall coherence, the precise nature of its relationship to the canonical book of Acts, and the reasons for including it in Nag Hammadi Codex VIII in late antiquity. In my response to these questions…
Searching for the (Sacred) Sound: Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead, and Religion
In addition to being recognized for their musical contributions, the Grateful Dead were also well known (indeed, notorious) for espousing a world view that can in many ways be described as religious, and for inspiring great devotion among their fans. There have been a number of scholarly discussions of religious aspects of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but these discussions usually have to do either with the interpretive lens through which their …
Religious Imperatives, Boogaloo Rhythms: Taking another Listen to Albert Ayler’s New Grass
In this article I discuss free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler’s album New Grass, released in 1968. Although Ayler’s early works have entered the jazz canon, this album has been seen as the beginning of his decline and also as a sellout. I argue that by taking Ayler’s messianic religious convictions into account, we cannot only understand New Grass better but can also see how it fits into his career as a whole and widen our understanding of the way…
Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock since the 1960s
Halliwell an opportunity to share their love and their understanding of progressive rock with their readers; exposing the broad outlines of the genre from its inception in the psychedelic era, through its alleged death at the hands of punk, to its descent underground in the 1980s and its slow mutation and eventual re-emergence.Yet, despite what its title may suggest, it is neither a complete history of progressive rock nor a textbook, as the auth…
"Introduction to "Gnosticism: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds
Music and the Divine: The Acid Tests and their Role in the Grateful Dead’s Foundation Story
In this article I discuss the way in which the Acid Tests, multimedia parties organized by author Ken Kesey in 1965 and 1966, were interpreted by the Grateful Dead, who played at the Acid Tests and were one of the most successful of the bands to emerge from the 1960s psychedelic scene in rock. In examining the construction of the meaning and significance of the Tests that band members created, we see a group that in many ways resembles a new reli…
The Rebirth of Improvisation as a Site for Religious Studies Research
In this article, I propose that studies of music's links to religion go beyond reductionistic links between religious traditions and music forms (e.g., "Music and/in Islam"), and look instead at ways in which music responds to or expresses concerns or aspirations that are linked to religion or spirituality. The article further proposes that, should this approach be adopted, the explosion of radical improvised music-making in the 1960s (associated…
The Free Musics
and the Story of Free Improvisation), and Davey Williams (Solo Gig)-and now Jack Wright's book as well. If we include discussions of free improvisation in works on free jazz or modern experimental music, or how-to manuals such as John Stevens's, we are fast approaching the point where we'd need . . . well, at least a couple of shelves in a bookcase to house it all. In other words, a not-insignificant number of people have spent a lot of time thin…
The Practice of Musical Improvisation: Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers by Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet
Michael Kaler reviews The Practice of Musical Improvisation: Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers by Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet
Philosophy (12 works) · Art (11 works) · Literature (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (7 works) · History (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Theology (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Music History and Culture (5 works)