MY IMPOSSIBLE SOUL
A COURSE DEEPENING INVESTIGATIONS OF METAMODERN CULTURE, ART, AND RELIGION THROUGH THE WORK OF SUFJAN STEVENS AND MORE
Metamodernism is a field of study that aims to investigate the cultural condition where feeling and form are never fully separate, but caught in an affective contradiction; where emotion, meaning, and interpretation are always entangled in a reach toward sincerity and connection, while at the same time being haunted by irony and skepticism (MIS 2026, p. 3, p. 7). My Impossible Soul is a work, inspired by the the metamodern music of indie folk artist Sufjan Stevens, that not only pays tribute to Stevens artistic career as an expression of metamodernism, but uses Stevens music as a window into the larger cultural condition of metamodernism. The work builds in the tradition of cultural theorists Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker’s “Notes on Metamodernism” (2010), to deepen investigation into a new generation of artists abandoning the aesthetics of deconstruction and pastiche in favour of the reconstruction of myth.
This September, My Impossible Soul as a text, as well as the editors and authors who brought this work to life, will be the body of a course offering that aims to create a dialogic space to open up everything the text has to offer us. The four week process will be co-led by metamodern cultural theorist Greg Dember, author of Say Hello to Metamodernism!, in a series of events that will be hosting:
Tom Drayton, lead co-editor of My Impossible Soul and co-author of "Words are Futile Devices" : An Introduction
Joshua Busman, author of "I Heard a Voice in My Mind" : Sacred Self-Protagonizing and the Oscillations of American Evangelicals
Maren Marchesini, author of Sufjan Stevens' Impossible Soul: Metamodern Intimacy, Polysubjectivity, and Plausible Deniability
Ka Ki Samuel Wan, author of "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross": Sufjan Stevens - in Search of (Queer) Faith
Throughout the month, we will not only be exploring the work of these authors and their texts, but opening up larger themes relevant to an understanding of the metamodern cultural sensibility, with sessions dedicated to "metamodernism as concept”, “progressive Christianity”, “Stevens work as an artist”, as well as “ethno-musicology”.
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Two ways to access: purchase the course as a stand-alone seminar, or join The Portal as a monthly/yearly member
This is a series featuring in-depth exploration of the cultural condition of metamodernism through an investigation of the text My Impossible Soul, a work focused on the metamodern music of Sufjan Stevens, with the editors and authors of the text.
Philosophy Portal is an online education platform opening space for the next generation of great thought, and cultivation of future philosophical mind. Philosophy Portal members get access to The Portal live event spaces, free access to select courses. Couples are encouraged get a 2 for 1 deal. All Sales Final.
Meet Your Seminar Leaders
Greg Dember
Greg Dember is a writer, musician, and computer programmer living in Seattle. He received his B.A. in psychology from Yale University, where he also studied literature. His recent intellectual preoccupations (beyond metamodernism) include questions about identity and consciousness, e.g. how people project narrative/self-hood onto other humans, animals, and objects. Musically, Greg records and performs as a “post-genre singer-songwriter” and sometimes plays in other people’s bands. The computer programmer part is how he earns his keep.
Tom Drayton
Tom Drayton teaches University of East London across the Postgraduate Performing Arts suite of courses focused on contemporary performance making, metamodernism, artistic research projects, and creative project management. His primary research interests focus on metamodern cultural forms, theatre and culture of the millennial generation, and contemporary political performance. He is a General Editor for Studies in Theatre and Performance Journal, and has written extensively on metamodern culture and performance in Journals and books. His research fuses praxis and critical scholarship, encompassing workshops, performances and publications.
Joshua Busman
Joshua Kalin Busman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Music and Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College. In 2009, he graduated summa cum laude from Middle Tennessee State University with a B.M. in Music Theory and Composition. In 2011, he completed an M.A. in Musicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a thesis focusing on sixteenth-century French Calvinist psalm-singing. In May 2015, he received his Ph.D. in Musicology from UNC-Chapel Hill with a dissertation titled “(Re)Sounding Passion: Listening to American Evangelical Worship Music (1997-Present).” His research focuses broadly on contemporary evangelical Christianity with particular focuses on worship, affect, and mass-media.
Maren Marchesini
Maren Haynes Marchesini serves as Director of Worship & Music at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, Montana. Maren is a choral director, cellist, vocalist, composer, and scholar with broad-ranging musical interests. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington where she focused on megachurches, gender, and ritual (specifically at the former Mars Hill Church), and she continues scholarly work in Christian music, ethics, and community, including a current research project at Holden Village. Maren brings a passion for community singing, diverse musical traditions, improvisation, collaboration, and play.
Ka Ki Samuel Wan
Sam Wan is the chair of an Australian Youth conference on Apologetics and Cultural Engagement, a committee member of various ministries for christians with disability, and writes and trains internationally in sexuality and pastoral care. He loves reading, patting dogs, Willie Nelson, and drinking earl grey tea. He spends his days off catching up with friends; watching Miranda on repeat; researching and writing on practical theology, disability theology, Old Testament, and Judaism; and a range of other bizarre things. He has a passion for church to be a place where everyone belongs, regardless of their ability, sexuality, race or marital status.
Each session focuses on extending our capacity to think the cultural condition of metamodernism.
Metamodernism as Concept
Progressive Christianity
Sufjan Steven as Artist
Ethno-musicology
Inspired by the book, My Impossible Soul
ABSTRACT
This book is the first academic volume dedicated to the work of "canonically" metamodern multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Contributors critically examine Stevens' output and impact across the relevant fields of musicology, literature, queer theory, performance studies, religious studies, and cultural studies. The volume provides the first international and interdisciplinary analysis of the music, lyrics, performance process and cultural impact of Sufjan Stevens, through the framework of metamodernism.
2026
Online
830pm CEST (Central European Summer Time)
Sunday September 6th / Session 1: Metamodernism as Concept w/ Greg Dember
Sunday September 13th / Session 2: Progressive Christianity w/ Ka Ki Samuel Wan
Sunday September 20th / Session 3: Sufjan Stevens as Artist w/ Tom Drayton
Sunday September 27th / Session 4: Ethno-musicology w/ Joshua Busman, Maren Marchesini
Check our reviews on
Start Today
Start Today
Two ways to access: purchase the course as a stand-alone seminar, or join The Portal as a monthly/yearly member
This is a series featuring in-depth exploration of the cultural condition of metamodernism through an investigation of the text My Impossible Soul, a work focused on the metamodern music of Sufjan Stevens, with the editors and authors of the text.
Philosophy Portal is an online education platform opening space for the next generation of great thought, and cultivation of future philosophical mind. Philosophy Portal members get access to The Portal live event spaces, free access to select courses. Couples are encouraged get a 2 for 1 deal. All Sales Final.
Check our reviews on
