He decided he wanted to meet (John) Stott, and a friend helped connect them. Simon called the theologian and offered to take him out for dinner. He said Stott told him he didn’t go out much anymore and instead invited the musician to his flat for tea and biscuits.

Paul Simon’s latest album, So Beautiful or So What, made a bunch of Best Albums of 2011 lists, including CT’s own. That Simon is acclaimed for his music is hardly news, but the fact that So Beautiful so deeply explores spiritual themes is fascinating.

“For somebody who’s not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs,” Simon said in press materials accompanying the album’s release.

Simon elaborated on his spiritual interests in a new interview with me for the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Simon, who comes from a Jewish background, does not describe himself as religious but told me that spiritual things are “part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis. I think of it more as spiritual feeling. It’s something I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, and I don’t quite understand it.”

Simon has engaged in conversations about spiritual issues with several prominent people of faith, including the Dalai Lama. In my interview, he spoke at length about one such discussion with the late British evangelical theologian John Stott.

Simon said he was recording in England when he saw a 2004 New York Times column by David Brooks, which described Stott’s approach to faith.

“The piece was about how embarrassed some Christians were by the televangelists, and (it) said, no one ever talks about this guy, but he’s a really good thinker,” Simon said.

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(Editor’s Note: One of my favorite Paul Simon songs, set in a fabulous video with Chevy Chase lip-synching the lyrics alongside Paul (the little guy doing all the work!)