Music, Theology, and Justice

Michael O'Connor, Hyun-Ah Kim, Christina Labriola

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2017
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978776586
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Music does not make itself. It is made by people: professionals and amateurs, singers and instrumentalists, composers and publishers, performers and audiences, entrepreneurs and consumers. In turn, making music shapes those who make it—spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, politically, economically—for good or ill, harming and healing. This volume considers the social practice of music from a Christian point of view. Using a variety of methodological perspectives, the essays explore the ethical and doctrinal implications of music-making. The reflections are grouped according to the traditional threefold ministry of Christ: prophet, priest, and shepherd: the prophetic role of music, as a means of articulating protest against injustice, offering consolation, and embodying a harmonious order; the pastoral role of music: creating and sustaining community, building peace, fostering harmony with the whole of creation; and the priestly role of music: in service of reconciliation and restoration, for individuals and communities, offering prayers of praise and intercession to God.
Using music in priestly, prophetic, and pastoral ways, Christians pray for and rehearse the coming of God's kingdom—whether in formal worship, social protest, concert performance, interfaith sharing, or peacebuilding. Whereas temperance was of prime importance in relation to the ethics of music from antiquity to the early modern period, justice has become central to contemporary debates. This book seeks to contribute to those debates by means of Christian theological reflection on a wide range of musics: including monastic chant, death metal, protest songs, psalms and worship music, punk rock, musical drama, interfaith choral singing, Sting, and Daft Punk.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Music, Theology, and Justice
• Music, Theology, and Justice
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I
• A Prophetic Role for Music: Protest and Liberati on
• Chapter 1
• Turning Hymns into Protest
• Chapter 2
• Punk Rock and/as Liberation Theology
• Chapter 3
• Mercy, Music, and the Prophetic Voice of Theology
• Chapter 4
• The Prophetic Role for Music
• Part II
• A Pastoral Role for Music: Creati ng Community
• Chapter 5
• Sacred Love
• Chapter 6
• Music, Religion, and Peacebuilding
• Chapter 7
• Breaking Stereotypes and Building Bridges
• Chapter 8
• A Pastoral Role for Music
• Part III
• A Priestly Role for Music: Reconciliati on and Restorati on
• Chapter 9
• Random Access Liturgies
• Chapter 10
• Recalling the Original Harmony of Paradise
• Chapter 11
• The Nightingale of Christ’s Redemption Song
• Chapter 12
• Music as Theology
• Chapter 13
• A Priestly Role for Music
• Index of Biblical References
• General Index
• About the Contributors