Singing and Sounding the Sacred - the Function of Religious Songs and Hymns in the Public Sphere

Abstract

Hymns are commonly sung in the public space of worship. They often also function in other public as well as private spheres. Religious singing in public spaces forms bridges between personal faith, the church, and public Christianity, while at the same time also forming bridges to a pluralist, secular, and post-secular society. I depart from the premise that the singing of hymns in the public sphere constitutes a form of religion lived in public. When the singing is reflected upon and discussed in public, also in social media, it can be seen as a form of public theology. Aspects of the reception histories and narratives of hymns, functioning in the wider public sphere in various countries and in various contexts and times, are discussed with regard to the possible functions that the singing could fulfil in these contexts. It is shown that hymnody forms a part of the beliefs, self-concepts, values, symbols, identities, ideologies, instruments of power, sets of myths, and the collective cultural memory of people.

Sensing Collectives

“…These cases may count as examples of aesthetics and politics becoming entangled in processes of innovating collective orders, but there are also cases where they combine in the governing of collective orders. Take, for a start, when in 2015 then US president Barack Obama sang "Amazing Grace," a song written by a rueful slave trader, and was openly moved to tears at a public obsequy for victims of a massacre at a Black church, thus performing a caring and responsible state in connection with racism (Mondada et al, 2016;Kloppers, 2020). There are many more examples of aesthetics involved in governmental strategies if we look at the campaigning of political parties, the staging of summits, conventions, negotiations, and at governmental public relations (Edelman, 1988;Marcus et al, 2000;Hitzler, 2002;Hajer, 2010;Aronczyk et al, 2017).…”

Sounding the sacred in the age of fake news – Practical theology reflecting on the public sphere

“…Faith shared in the (more visible) public domain is equally dependent on the arts, and especially on singing. I reflected on the meaning of singing hymns in various contexts in the more explicit public square (Kloppers 2020) and sought to determine the possible reasons for singing in these contexts. It became clear that the possible motives are related to emotions and feelings often connected to religion, such as hope, reassurance, strength, friendship, love, grace, forgiveness, support, comfort, healing, gratitude, belonging, unity, community, encouragement, courage, resilience and identity -singing to praise God, experience the presence of God and feel a sense of transcendence, trust and truth, but also to voice lament, hurt, protest and resistance.…”

“…Forming part of religious and cultural identities, frames of (world) interpretation, ideologies, values and the collective cultural memory of nations, hymnody builds bridges between personal faith, the church and public Christianity whilst also opening paths into the 'public sphere' of a pluralist and secular or post-secular society. Discussing the functioning of hymns in a diversity of contexts, I showed that hymns and songs have been functioning in the public sphere for political, nationalist and ideological purposes, but that they also can play a positive role in bringing people together, transforming people and contributing to change in oppressive political and social systems (Kloppers 2020). In this article, I focus on the public sphere in which hymnody functions and discuss the possibilities for performing a sounding practical theology reflecting on the aesthetics of communication through singing and other forms of art in the public space of worship as well as in the more 'visible' public sphere whilst creating beauty in the process of reflection.…”