Come alive

'Come Alive' is an original piece of music that seeks to extend theological aesthetics' focus on literature and representational arts to the form of "musicking".

Despite increased research into music in theology, there is very little research attempting to theologise through music. Through its specific symbolic processes and semiotic patterning of experience and understanding, music can exteriorise aspects of conversion and Christian doctrine in ways that cannot be accessed solely through theoretical reasoning. Come Alive explores and enacts this relatively unknown dimension of Lonergan’s epistemology delineating the vital role of the aesthetic and artistic dimensions in human flourishing.

The song was first performed at an event at the Jesuit School of Theology, at Santa Clara University, California. It was later launched at The Cave Inn, Brisbane, while livestreamed to an international audience from across Australia, Asia, Europe, the United States of America, and Latin America.

'Come Alive' is also referred to as part of the chapter "Knowlege of Truth" in Maeve Heaney's book 'Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt' (2022).