Matthew 15:18 “The things that come out of your mouth come from your heart, and these defile you.”

“Having been locked up with my little Swiftie for about a year and a half with the pandemic, I listened to much more of her music and became a really big fan over that time. I’d call myself the ‘Swiftie Professor.”

This is Professor Elizabeth Scala, who teaches medieval literature at University of Texas, Austin. She is offering “The Taylor Swift Songbook,” a course exploring the inner workings of Taylor Swift’s songwriting.

Scala will take William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Keats, and Robert Frost and “pair them with her writing to see how they share some of the same strategies and uses of figure and literary devices (of Swift’s songs) that would make the students more interested in looking at these older works.”

Not to be outdone, Sociology Professor Brian Donovan will offer the class “The Sociology of Taylor Swift” this fall at the University of Kansas, to “look at the impact of her celebrity on broader American culture.”

Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer of the English language. Much of his work (Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, etc.) is still recognized as literary masterpieces. Who is not familiar with ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the iconic tale of the power of young love?

Taylor Swift alongside Shakespeare? Let’s look at her latest and most successful hit song ‘Antihero’.

Exhibit 1: “I have this thing where I get older but never wiser. Midnights become my afternoons when my depression works the graveyard shift. All of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room.” Her message of depression resonates with young adults. Getting “older but never wiser” is a theme of our culture.

Exhibit 2: “I wake up screaming from dreaming. One day I’ll watch as you’re leaving ’cause you got tired of my scheming (for the last time).” Swift argues in her lyrics that scheming, defined as “making underhanded or secret plans,” is an ugly heart issue that, if allowed to continue, results in losing those closest to you.

Exhibit 3: “Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism – Like some kind of congressman? (Tale as old as time).” With social media and the “selfie”, narcissism (excessive interest in or admiration of yourself) rules the day. Everyone is ignoring King Solomon’s warning “If you have been foolish in exalting yourself… put your hand over your mouth.” (Proverbs 30:32). God equates narcissists to fools. Stop it.

Exhibit 4: “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me – At teatime, everybody agrees; I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror – It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.” And finally, Swift zeroes in on the root cause of the problem behind the scheming and narcissism – her own heart. Once again, everyone, including Swift, is ignoring the Bible’s warning, this time from the Prophet Jeremiah: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

This sounds very familiar, but with a different perspective from the one who said it. “Dear Sir: Regarding your article ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ I am. Yours truly, GK Chesterton.” When a NY Times news reporter was asking this question in his article, Christian philosopher Chesterton gave him the simple answer – the problem with the world is the sinfulness of the human heart. You see, all sin is an “inside job.”

Taylor Swift’s lyrics now attract the academic world as a way to get young adults interested in literature because they are also aware that our young adults are in a crisis of identity. Their identity in Jesus Christ has been replaced by an identity that centers on self. By leveraging Swift’s lyrics, they unwittingly keep our young people trapped there, because Swift offers no solutions to the depravity of the human heart.

In this week’s verse, Jesus explains how it is that your inner self – your heart – defiles you and not your actions or what you eat: “Those things which proceed out of your mouth come from your heart, and they defile you. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile you.” (Matthew 15:18-20). To Jesus, sin is an INSIDE JOB.

Thankfully, God provides the solution that won’t be discussed in the Taylor Swift classes at KU or UT Austin: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh… you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 26:26-28).

God can save you from your sinful heart. He only asks you trust Him – through His Son, Jesus Christ.

“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #573