Paper short abstract:

This presentation examines congregational musicking as a vernacular form of religious artistic expression. I analyze congregational hymn texts and explore how this materialized form of spirituality responds to current problems and trauma on the societal and/or personal level.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I look at congregational musicking as a vernacular form of religious artistic expression. I analyze congregational hymn texts as a performative way of knowledge production. As theologian Amos Yong explains, popular hymnody often becomes an expression of what people believe and is sometimes a more reliable indicator of popular belief than credal confessions (2015, 281). Congregational song is a way of making the immaterial material, and the hymn texts are the fabric of this materiality.

This presentation examines this hitherto unexplored source and, through the analysis of selected texts, seeks to answer the question of how this materialized form of spirituality responds to current problems and trauma on the societal and/or personal level. In a diachronic analysis, I compare how religious communities react to societal transformations and locate themselves in the broader social and cultural space.

The scientific study of this particular vernacular art form is intended to raise awareness of religious musicking not only as a way to explore religious lifeworlds, but also as a means to emphasize the role of sound in methodological epistemologies. This vernacular unfolding of spirituality is an unrecognized source of inspiration that offers the opportunity to study more precisely the dimensions of spirituality and religious lifeworlds through the lyrics of congregational songs.