Hymnody in a Blue Ridge Mountain Independent Baptist Church (1987) (original) (raw)

1987, Appalachian Journal

An ethnographic description of hymn-singing at the Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Stanley, Page Co., Virginia, from a phenomenological point of view. After introducing the church congregation, the place of songs in their lives and worship, and the repertoire, I offer an experience-centered description of the congregation members' intentions when they sing, their emotions when singing, how they interpret the meaning of the hymns, and how they evaluate the performances, in their own words recorded during singings and from interviews. The ethnographic present for this essay is 1976-1986.