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Liturgy, Music, Theology
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Liturgy, Music, Theology

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 July 2023) | Viewed by 13276

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Anna Nekola

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Guest Editor
Associate Professor of Music, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2, Canada
Interests: music; religion and popular culture; sound studies; cultural politics of music
Dr. Becca Whitla

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Professor of Practical Ministry, St. Andrew's College, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W3, Canada
Interests: liturgy/worship; congregational and community singing; liturgical and liberationist theologies; postcolonial and decolonial theories; choral conducting

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Music in worship is a crucial means for forming and expressing faith and religious identity. Our theologies drive and energize liturgical and musical practices. At the same time, liturgical and musical practices are primary theological expressions (Kavanagh); they shape our theologies. Music and liturgy are also sites where theologies are constrained and contested. Existing approaches in liturgy can be entrenched, and moments of liturgical renewal can be marked by conflict, revealing debates over musical repertoires and practices, as well as religious belief and doctrine. Our practices of worship can reflect, constitute, or challenge systems and structures of power.

This Special Issue draws upon a broad understanding of music, encompassing multiple styles and repertoires, but also drawing on the concept of “musicking” as involving actions beyond just performing and listening (Small). It explores power issues with respect to culture, identity, embodiment, community, and politics enacted through music in liturgy with special attention to the theological implications. It seeks to explore the dynamics between and across these elements of worship and faith practices, engaging complexities and tensions, and coming from a range of methods and disciplinary perspectives. The central question of the articles in this collection is, “How do we sing ourselves and our beliefs into being?” Additional potential questions could include:

  • How can music galvanize, transform, and/or reconfigure our liturgies and theologies?
  • In what ways does theology shape our music and our embodied liturgical practices, and what are the ethical implications of this formation?
  • When our worship does not connect with our lived experience, or fit our lives anymore, how might we respond and rethink what we do?
  • How do we engage with changes to our musical and liturgical traditions? Alternatively, what musical and liturgical traditions do we seek to maintain and why?
  • What insights can we gain from investigating cultural politics in practices of liturgy, music, and theology? How does music in liturgy affirm cultural norms and traditions or challenge them? Are cultural norms invisible or explicit in music and liturgy?
  • Who is left out or excluded from our communities because they do not experience a place for themselves in our liturgies and sung theologies?
  • How do we engage multiplicity and diversity—human, musical, theological—in our communal practices?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 250–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors Anna Nekola ([email protected]) and Becca Whitla ([email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors to ensure proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Dr. Anna Nekola
Dr. Becca Whitla
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • music
  • liturgy
  • theology
  • worship practice
  • identity
  • embodied practice
  • cultural politics
  • multiplicity
  • diversity
  • power

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 246 KiB  
Article
Context and Liturgical Renewal: An Approach from Cuba
by Amós López Rubio
Religions 2024, 15(4), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040515 - 22 Apr 2024
Viewed by 872
Abstract
This article aims to share the experience of the renewal of congregational singing in Cuban churches since the 1960s as a testimony to the links that exist between liturgical renewal and theological renewal with a special focus on the dialogue between culture and [...] Read more.
This article aims to share the experience of the renewal of congregational singing in Cuban churches since the 1960s as a testimony to the links that exist between liturgical renewal and theological renewal with a special focus on the dialogue between culture and social reality, particularly in light of the Cuban Revolution of 1959, as constitutive of this renewal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
15 pages, 261 KiB  
Article
Liturgies of Livability or Liturgical Violence: What Kind of Space Is Christian Congregational Song Creating for LGBTQIA2S+ and Nonbinary People?
by Stephanie A. Budwey
Religions 2023, 14(11), 1411; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111411 - 10 Nov 2023
Viewed by 2005
Abstract
The liturgy is one of the most important places in which people are formed theologically through components such as prayers, music, visual art, and preaching. Yet, depending on the theology that is expressed, the liturgy can be a place that heals or harms. [...] Read more.
The liturgy is one of the most important places in which people are formed theologically through components such as prayers, music, visual art, and preaching. Yet, depending on the theology that is expressed, the liturgy can be a place that heals or harms. Because LGBTQIA2S+ and nonbinary people are often excluded and made invisible in Christian worship, this article focuses on the importance of Christian congregational song and how—drawing from Nathan Myrick’s work—it can be ethical for LGBTQIA2S+ and nonbinary people when it contributes to their flourishing. First is an articulation of a theology of “both/neither” which (1) acknowledges that LGBTQIA2S+ and nonbinary people exist, (2) is based on a sexually polymorphic reading of Genesis 1:27 and asserts that LGBTQIA2S+ and nonbinary people are made in God’s image, and (3) celebrates difference, diversity, and multiplicity. Next is a discussion of how enacting a theology of “both/neither” in the liturgy creates liturgies of livability for LGBTQIA2S+ and nonbinary people, whereas when it is not, it inflicts liturgical violence. This article concludes by exploring examples from Christian congregational song that support liturgies of livability through their expression of a theology of “both/neither.” Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
23 pages, 1302 KiB  
Article
Publishing Privileges the Published: An Analysis of Gender, Class, and Race in the Hymnological Feedback Loop
by Katie Graber and Anneli Loepp Thiessen
Religions 2023, 14(10), 1273; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101273 - 8 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1840
Abstract
Hymnal curation processes have for centuries maintained restrictive feedback loops: material that has been published elsewhere continues to be published, and new material—particularly when it offers something unique—is evaluated against the criteria of what has gone before. This results in hymnals that tend [...] Read more.
Hymnal curation processes have for centuries maintained restrictive feedback loops: material that has been published elsewhere continues to be published, and new material—particularly when it offers something unique—is evaluated against the criteria of what has gone before. This results in hymnals that tend to over-represent the work of white male contributors from a Euro–American perspective and limits the amount of material by women, people of color, and contributors from around the world. Since the mid-to-late twentieth century, when some denominations have sought to diversify their worship music collections, change has come slowly. Contemporary hymnody and contemporary worship music are predominantly written by men, and additions of global song have relied on a narrow swath of scholars and publications. To understand some of the power imbalances embedded in church music publishing, we use Voices Together, the 2020 Mennonite hymnal for which we were committee members, as a case study. We explore how this new collection came to include only about 45 newly published songs out of the total of 749 songs, and we analyze statistics related to gender and global song. An intersectional approach allows us to examine how musical actors are marginalized in multiple ways, considering prejudice against class, race, and gender. Understanding how current collections are informed by previously published collections, and consequently how the demographics of contributors have shifted over time, explains how publishing privileges the published and offers insight needed to begin to rectify this problem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
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17 pages, 316 KiB  
Article
Communitas, Worship, and Music: Using Music to Revitalize the Post-Modern Church
by Joshua Taylor
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1206; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091206 - 20 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1699
Abstract
Music often facilitates the experience of communitas within disparate groups of people. As the American mainline Protestant church faces schism and struggles for relevance in a post-modern era defined by mistrust in the institutional church and social subjectivism, reexamining how singing together can [...] Read more.
Music often facilitates the experience of communitas within disparate groups of people. As the American mainline Protestant church faces schism and struggles for relevance in a post-modern era defined by mistrust in the institutional church and social subjectivism, reexamining how singing together can break down barriers within ecclesial structures and create shared understanding is merited. As demonstrated through the music of pilgrimage, community musicking allows individuals to define the sacred together. Music then becomes an educational resource for the reformation of the church. The Iona and Taizé communities offer insights into this process. Their publishing efforts and worship styles, influenced and crafted by the populations who visit their locations, have provided resources for this dialogue in localized contexts. However, the experience of communitas is individualized—no one person, group, or organization can define this outcome. Consequently, no single musical or liturgical approach will be appropriate in all contexts; the church’s music must adapt so that each selection is imbued with meaning for that community. Facilitating such a process in the local congregation may threaten the status quo while also becoming a tool for revitalization in the post-modern era. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
14 pages, 242 KiB  
Article
Holden Village Vespers ’23: (Re)Sounding a Transforming Community
by Maren Haynes Marchesini
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1191; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091191 - 18 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1897
Abstract
Nestled in the remote Cascade mountains of Washington State, Holden Village operates as a year-round Lutheran retreat center with a robust musical and liturgical culture. While on sabbatical in the Village in 1986, composer Marty Haugen wrote his Holden Evening Prayer liturgy, a [...] Read more.
Nestled in the remote Cascade mountains of Washington State, Holden Village operates as a year-round Lutheran retreat center with a robust musical and liturgical culture. While on sabbatical in the Village in 1986, composer Marty Haugen wrote his Holden Evening Prayer liturgy, a now-iconic setting beloved around the world. Known in the Village as Vespers ’86, Haugen’s liturgy soon became canonical. Over 35 years later, however, Vespers ’86 is a fraught icon of collective identity. As Village leadership welcomes a greater diversity of people, Haugen’s liturgical language, theological perspective, and musical style do not universally resonate. Yet others adore—and sometimes demand—Haugen’s liturgy, regarding it as essential to the Village. Suggestions to adapt Haugen’s liturgy have been met with a simple question, one posed by Haugen himself: Why not write a new one? This paper chronicles the collaborative process of liturgical composition at Holden that resulted in Vespers ’23. Centering methodologies of participant-observation and ethnographic interview, I engage the Holden community as a liturgical musician and ethnomusicologist. The resulting paper shows how this unique cohort navigates identity, belonging, tradition, and change through the rich and contested sites of music and liturgy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
13 pages, 670 KiB  
Article
Not Secular: Interrogating the Sacred-Secular Binary through Gospel-Pop Performance
by Matthew A. Williams
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091178 - 15 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1644
Abstract
Secularisation theory proposed that the modernisation of society would bring about a decline in religiosity across the West, leading to ‘entzauberung’ (disenchantment). Eventually, society would be devoid of belief in the transcendent. Some theorists have challenged this by suggesting (with some qualifying factors) [...] Read more.
Secularisation theory proposed that the modernisation of society would bring about a decline in religiosity across the West, leading to ‘entzauberung’ (disenchantment). Eventually, society would be devoid of belief in the transcendent. Some theorists have challenged this by suggesting (with some qualifying factors) that enchantment better describes the secular age we occupy. Charles Taylor suggests that we can perceive the enchantment of a secular age through the human relationship with art. In this article, I suggest that, when present in popular music, black gospel music (in particular) complicates notions of the sacred-secular binary. The sacred-secular distinction was not familiar to West Africans arriving in the New World during the transatlantic slave trade. Music had played a central role in the lives of pre-diaspora Africans, with no differentiation between sacred and secular musicking. Despite some of the historical opposition to secular music in many black-majority churches, gospel music owes its heritage to this West African worldview. In this article, I propose a four-quadrant model that troubles the accepted binaries of sacred and secular. I use the Kingdom Choir’s 2018 performance of ‘Stand by Me’ at the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as a basis for discussing alternative ways of viewing holy-profane, sacred-secular dichotomies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liturgy, Music, Theology)
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