Noise and Silence in Rwanda’s Postgenocide Religious Soundscape

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-64
Author(s):  
Andrea Mariko Grant
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Worship Music ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Praise And Worship

AbstractThis article explores conflicts around noise and silence in Rwanda’s postgenocide religious soundscape. After the genocide, new Pentecostal (or abarokore) churches grew rapidly in the country and offered up noise and a specific understanding of praise and worship music (guhimbaza Imana) as important ways to enact healing. However, Catholics emphasised silence and viewed the new Pentecostal churches as distracting interlopers. Far from being trivial differences, I argue that these conflicts around sound hint at wider divides in Rwandan society and a worrying new convergence between religious and ethnic identity. Focusing on aural conflicts between Christian denominations can therefore help us gain a better sense of the limits of Pentecostal conversion. Instead of assuming that Pentecostals are necessarily ‘noisy’, I suggest we pay closer attention to the ways in which they may also cultivate silence, and how this relates to wider power structures.

“My Worship Has Been Hijacked”

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-38
Author(s):  
Melanie C. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Historical Research ◽  
Charismatic Movement ◽  
Worship Music ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Praise And Worship

Chapter 1 combines historical research with autoethnographic narrative to contextualize the dramatic musical shifts that have taken place in evangelicalism over the last four decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, “praise and worship” music—a genre with roots in the Pentecostal and charismatic movement—began to enter the evangelical mainstream. Evangelical churches struggled with how to negotiate the ethos and aesthetics of these new songs into their services, leading to a period that many commentators dubbed the “worship wars.” Subsequent developments, including the formation of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), a concerted push by secular distributors to sell worship music to churches, and the rise of new kind of performer (the “celebrity worship leader”), exacerbated internal congregational tensions and debates.

scholarly journals “It’s Your Breath in Our Lungs”: Sean Feucht’s Praise and Worship Music Protests and the Theological Problem of Pandemic Response in the U.S.

Religions ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Adam A. Perez
Keyword(s):  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Spiritual Power ◽  
Worship Music ◽  
The Social ◽  
Government Mandates ◽  
Congregational Singing ◽  
History Of ◽  
Praise And Worship ◽  
Historical Resources ◽  
The U.S

In response to U.S. government restrictions imposed as part of a nationwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, charismatic worship leader Sean Feucht began a series of worship concerts. Feucht positioned these protests as expressions of Christian religious freedom in opposition to mandated church closings and a perceived double-standard regarding the large gatherings of protesters over police violence against Black and Brown persons. Government restrictions challenged the sine qua non liturgical act of encounter with God for evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics: congregational singing in Praise and Worship. However, as Feucht’s itinerant worship concerts traversed urban spaces across the U.S. to protest these restrictions, the events gained a double valence. Feucht and event attendees sought to channel God’s power through musical worship to overturn government mandates and, along the way, they invoked longstanding social and racial prejudices toward urban spaces. In this essay, I argue that Feucht’s events reveal complex theological motivations that weave together liturgical-theological, social, and political concerns. Deciphering this complex tapestry requires a review of both the history of evangelical engagement with urban spaces and the theological history of Praise and Worship. Together, these two sets of historical resources generate a useful frame for considering how Feucht, as a charismatic musical worship leader, attempts to wield spiritual power through musical praise to change political situations and the social conditions.

From Hipster to Hillbilly: Death, Bluegrass, and Gospel According to David Crowder

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 338-358
Author(s):  
JOSHUA KALIN BUSMAN
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Music ◽  
Worship Music ◽  
Widespread Adoption ◽  
Praise And Worship ◽  
American Churches ◽  
Multiple Discourses

AbstractEven with the widespread adoption of rock-styled “praise and worship” music in American churches, bluegrass and gospel musics still serve as potent musical signifiers, especially among the white southern evangelicals comprising praise and worship's primary demographic. Drawing repertoire and influence from Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and Bill Gaither, evangelical artist David Crowder uses strategic musical references to establish his own sense of “hillbilly” religiosity but often deploys these references in ways that align him with a “hipster” community of young musicians and music fans. In this paper, I demonstrate the ways that strategic references to bluegrass and gospel music allow Crowder to situate himself within these multiple discourses of evangelical authenticity.

Ethnic Identity and Personal Identity.

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph H. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Personal Identity

What, How, and Why of Ethnic Identity: Not for Ethnics Only

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-398
Author(s):  
Kathryn J. Lindholm
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity

Examining Ethnic Identity Through New Lenses

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (35) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Jones Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity
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