Abstract
This article focuses on religion and change in relation to music. Its starting point is the argument that music plays a central role as a driving force for religious change, as has recently been suggested by several researchers of religion. Music is seen to comprise elements that are central to contemporary religiosity in general: participation, embodiment, experience, emotions, and creativity. This article approaches the discussion from a Jewish point of view, connecting the theoretical perspective to an ethnographic case study conducted among progressive Jews in London with special focus on music, religious practice, and change. The article outlines the ongoing discussion on religion and change by focusing on features of individualism, personal choice, and processes of bricolage, critically assessing them from an inclusive point of view, focusing on individuals as simultaneously both personal and socially as well as culturally embedded agents. The analysis highlights a visible trend among the interviewees of wanting to combine a radically liberal theology with an increasingly traditional practice. In these accounts musical practices play a pivotal yet ambiguous role as instigators and insignia of religious change. As a conclusion, insights into more ‘sonically aware religious studies’ are suggested.
Highlights
This article focuses on religion and change in relation to music
In her view music is the soul of the religious engagement: the breath of life that makes ancient texts and rituals come to life today, creating community with the people around her, with the past as well as the future. Her ideal is to create Jewish musical practices that are firmly rooted and embedded in tradition, historically relevant, and theologically substantial, yet open and flexible so that new influences are allowed to inspire and inform the practice, making the ancient rituals inclusive, egalitarian, and relevant in the twenty-first century. She eagerly explores and incorporates aspects of traditional Jewish worship in her services – such as the ritual cantillation nusach,3 the use of Hebrew as the language of prayer, and mystical melodic traditions such as the wordless Hasidic niggunim4 – aspects that have long been absent in progressive Jewish services or have previously only been practised within more orthodox branches of Judaism
This article approaches the discussion from a Jewish point of view, connecting the theoretical perspective to a specific ethnographic case study conducted at Leo Baeck College in London with special focus on music, religious practice, and change
Summary
Within the discourse on contemporary religiosity growing attention is attached to music as a dynamic medium for shaping rational responses, social identification, and emotional attachment to religious contexts, narratives, and worldviews (Partridge 2014, 37). Several interviewees argue, when, rather than being overtly individualistic and obsessed with free choice, people are tired of constantly having to take a stand and form an opinion on what to believe and how to tailor one’s own personal religious outlook These experiences give rise to a counter-reaction, where music plays an important part. I think people come to synagogue very often to be in a community as much as to be with God, which they don’t know what it is and what they mean by it and they get really muddled To conclude, this second section dealing with the points of view presented in the ethnographic material shows a more complex and at times contradictory way of relating to the narrative of religious change identified in the theoretical discussion. This endeavour is generally understood as a process with collective components, not a project of finding or enhancing the self
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