Towards a Just Worship: A Black Practitioner's Methodology for Decolonizing Worship (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
The Journal of Traditions Beliefs, 2014
Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music Institute M usic frames and shapes the worship and social justice life of most African American churches. Vocal and instrumental music accompanies Christians from birth to death, during special sacred holidays, weekly worship, and in protest against injustice and oppression. Socio-cultural and religious contexts, and the sacred and secular texts, inform music: a combination of sound and silence, affecting listeners on a deeply spiritual, sensual, physical, and psychological level. From making a joyful noise to moments of contemplation, from pomp and circumstance to baptism and funerals, music is integral to corporate worship. Simultaneously, worship does not just happen on Sunday in the sanctuary. Worship is a daily activity. Just as there is no monolithic African American church, there is no monolithic or single type of African American sacred music. The styles and choices of music used to worship vary from church to church, from denominational to nondenominational environments, from Catholic to Protestant, to those faith institutions that align with but are not Christian at the core. The lived experiences and needs of the body of Christ from cradle to grave also change and inform music preferences. Issues of education, socio-cultural location, colorism, gender, and class often also shape affinity to particular musical types. Further, not only do the genres, uses, and performance styles of this sacred music vary, but they emanate upon and within diverse praying grounds, and the particular choices from venue to venue are contested. When thinking of praying grounds, imagine multiple kinds of spaces. Where does one pray? Imagine having an attitude and experience of prayer, of communicating, of dialoguing with God, where one speaks and listens in venues or spaces that are sacred-churches, hallowed land, mosques, temples, synagogues, in nature, and places individuals think of as secular-in 1 Kirk-Duggan: The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
Sounds mega : musical discourse in Black majority churches in London
2018
This thesis explores congregational singing through the lens of the local and global in Black Majority Churches (BMCs) in the Royal London Borough of Greenwich, UK. The phenomenal growth of modern-day Pentecostalism is its ability to negotiate the local and the global, and a number of scholars agree that up-tempo, lively music is integral to the Black religious experience. However, there is a paucity of literature in the UK that analyses this area in a detailed and systematic manner. Methodologically, Nattiez's model of musical discourse is employed within a framework of critical discourse analysis to interrogate his 'esthesic', 'immanent' and 'poietic' elements,-that is the experience by the receivers, the music itself and the perspective of the producers-at New Wine Church, (NWC), Woolwich as the primary case study. The perspective of a multimodal analysis has uncovered multiple meaning-making processes within the context of a neo-Pentecostal megachurch with an emphasis on prosperity gospel. Firstly, the esthesic perspective found that the songs popular in the global Christian music industry fulfilled their role as Pentecostal liturgy, whilst simultaneously supporting and reinforcing the tenets of a prosperity gospel. Secondly, the immanent (musicological) analysis revealed simple, easy songs that had been altered through a process of African American 'Blackenizing'. Thirdly, the poietic, from the point of view of the producers, told the story of music in the church, signalling a shift in the musical identity. Further fieldwork confirmed the findings at NWC and similar processes in regard to an undermining and a silencing of African and Caribbean musical identities. The research concludes that the global Christian music industry and its supporting systems are not reflective of UK BMC congregations although these sounds dominated both the large and small churches in the research. These findings make problematic an understanding of the local and the global in congregational singing in BMCs and the privileging of white music forms with its concomitant economic benefits.
A House Divided? Christian Music in Black and White
Journal of Media and Religion, 2011
This study examines racial discourse evident in gospel music, a predominantly African American genre and contemporary Christian music (CCM), a predominantly White American genre. Analyzing 45 songs on the Billboard year-end charts for 2007 and 2008, the study reveals differences in messages predicated on sociocultural influences. Whereas gospel songs, possessing roots in blues, emphasize opposition and overcoming, CCM songs, establishing its root in the aftermath of the Hippie movement, emphasizes devotion and inspiration. This comparative study lays a foundation for future thematic analysis of Christian music and holds implications for the intersection between social and spiritual identity, the influence of industry practices on cultural production and offers a contributing explanation for issues of race relations even among Christians.
House Divided: Christian Music in Black and White
This study examines racial discourse evident in gospel music, a predominantly African American genre and contemporary Christian music (CCM), a predominantly White American genre. Analyzing 45 songs on the Billboard year-end charts for 2007 and 2008, the study reveals differences in messages predicated on sociocultural influences. Whereas gospel songs, possessing roots in blues, emphasize opposition and overcoming, CCM songs, establishing its root in the aftermath of the Hippie movement, emphasizes devotion and inspiration. This comparative study lays a foundation for future thematic analysis of Christian music and holds implications for the intersection between social and spiritual identity, the influence of industry practices on cultural production and offers a contributing explanation for issues of race relations even among Christians.
Theology
Review of Worship across the Racial Divide To what extent does music contribute to the formation of an interracial congrega-tion? Is one musical style or approach better than another? To answer these ques-tions Gerardo Marti conducted a sociological study on the role of music in twelveinterracial congregations, many of whom were majority white congregations whosuccessfully integrated over time. He arrives at a conclusion contrary to manypopularly held beliefs: there is not a particular style of music that is most effectivein building interracial congregations. Rather, the practice of musical performanceitself serves as an avenue to diverse interracial and interethnic relations, which arethemselves essential to forming a diverse congregation.
""""This book will surprise many readers." -- From the Introduction Church leaders believe worship is key to congregational diversity, and the demand for music that appeals across racial and ethnic cultures has prompted great speculation. But misguided worship practices based on faulty racial assumptions accentuate rather than relieve the pervasive racial tensions. Through stories and vignettes from a wide variety of Protestant multiracial churches and interviews with over 170 of their members – including church leaders, church musicians, and regular attendees – Marti's book moves away from assumption and speculation to examine how music and worship actually ‘works’ in diverse congregations. The book provides an intriguing lens for how race continues to affect religion, even when religion attempts to overcome it. Reviews "This is a brave book that dares to challenge conventional wisdom regarding the intersections of race, worship and music. It is a model of engaged scholarship and will be essential reading for pastors, worship leaders, and students of congregations. Gerardo Marti is emerging as one of the leading sociologists of religion in the United States with a distinctive methodological approach in the field of Congregational Studies." --William McKinney, President Emeritus, Pacific School of Religion "Dr. Marti makes a unique and important contribution to our understanding of multi-racial churches as worshiping communities. His central focus on the worship ritual helps us to understand the meaning and lived experience of multiculturalism for participants. For social scientists and other scholars, he helps us to understand the social processes which forge commitment and identification across the most divisive of social barriers. A smart, interesting, and humane book." --Penny Edgell, author of Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life "Marti is a master at unpacking the culture of a congregation. Music, he shows us, is never just about sound. It's about who and how, feelings and bodies and ethnic identities. What he tells us about how music works is far more interesting and complicated than the how-to books would have us think." --Nancy Ammerman, author of Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners "Gerardo Marti adds another valuable volume to his works as an accomplished researcher and sociologist about multiethnic churches in America. What is most valuable about the book is the large collection of quotes sprinkled throughout from a plurality of voices that illustrates the diversity, complexity, and richness of worship in multiracial congregations."--DJ Chuang, Worship Leader Magazine "A thoughtful and provocative read...Gerardo Marti has produced an interesting book focused on music as a key variable in the life of multiracial churches, and how music may help promote particular religious and social outcomes. For this, he is to be commended, and I believe others should follow his example and pay more serious attention to the role of music in the life of multiethnic, or other, religious congregations."--Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "Gerardo Marti has produced an interesting book focused on music as a key variable in the life of multiracial churches, and how music may help promote particular religious and social outcomes. For this, he is to be commended, and I believe others should follow his example and pay more serious attention to the role of music in the life of multiethnic, or other, religious congregations."--Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "This book is a paradigm shifter. To me, it represents an advance to the next stage of multiracial/ethnic/cultural ministry. Focus on people as people, bonding them together, helping to create the unity Christ prayed we'd have. Go ahead and seek musical forms that speak to many people simultaneously, and feel free to play different types of music. But you need not be in bondage to either. And the truth shall set you free."--Michael O. Emerson, Christianity Today "What actually brings diversity is what Marti calls "racialized ritual inclusion," a strategy with problematic moral implications...Marti shows that these are fluid cultural constructs that "racialize" differences."--Church Times "One cannot underestimate the importance of this topic and Marti's study...this is a watershed work that should be read by anyone interested in works about race, identity, and music."--Religion "This book is more scientifically grounded in research and study than the title suggests...A scholarly, thought-provoking examination of this topic. Highly recommended."--CHOICE "A valuable contribution to the literature...I find Gerardo Marti's sociological analysis to be most helpful and complementary to the theological and liturgical analysis explored by others."--Worship "I have been teaching the foundational course in Christian worship at my school, North Park Theological Seminary, for the last two years. Since this is a new course for me I have been doing a good deal of reading, observing and reflecting on this most important aspect of Christian faith. By far the most provocative book I have read is Gerardo Marti's Worship Across the Racial Divide."--John E. Phelan, Jr., Senior Professor of Theological Studies and former President of North Park Theological Seminary "Worship across the Racial Divide is necessary reading for anyone interested in the study of race, religion, and worship music."--Sociology of Religion"""""
Sacralizing the Secular? From the Blues to Gospel and Back Again
Just as Sunday in the United States is the time most reserved for sacred practices, Saturday night is perhaps most identified with secular forms of diversion. These moments, so close chronologically, are perhaps also not so far apart in terms of meaning. They are forms of communication and ritual that have more in common than might at first appear. New forms of sacred practices, in fact, can be tied to what were once quite secular elements—or which both might be seen as religious. Saturday night may well be intimately connected to Sunday morning. In the case of African American Blues music the connection is compelling: although the nature of the relationship is disputed, scholars agree that Gospel music is closely tied to the Blues. This is in spite of the Blues being seen as the " Devil's music. " The nature of the sacred-secular divide is a critical question for Pentecostalism, a religious movement deeply influenced by African American religious styles since its beginnings at Azuza Street in Los Angeles some 101 years ago, as well as in charismatic movements, including the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, now in its 40 th year. Catholic connection, global connection to 500 million Pentecostals worldwide. Such phenomena have occasioned a sacralizing of secular behavior as well as a secularizing of formerly sacral elements. Their exploration permits theoretical inquiry into the relationship between religion and social change.