Full Description
This book analyses religion and change in relation to music within the context of contemporary progressive Judaism. It argues that music plays a central role as a driving force for religious change, comprising several elements seen as central to contemporary religiosity in general: participation, embodiment, experience, emotions and creativity. Focusing on the progressive Anglo-Jewish milieu today, the study investigates how responses to these processes of change are negotiated individually and collectively and what role is allotted to music in this context. Building on ethnographic research conducted at Leo Baeck College in London (2014-2016), it maps how theologically unsystematic life-views take form through everyday musical practices related to institutional religion, identifying three theoretically relevant processes at work: the reflexive turn, the turn within and the turn to tradition.
Contents
Introduction
1. Theoretical Starting Points
2. Entering the Ethnographic Field
3. Dinah: Radical and Liberal in Theology, Traditional in Practice
4. Micah: Music as a Bridge between Diverse Jewish Experiences
5. Esther: Singing as a Form of Understanding
6. David: The Wish to Have a Broader Sort of Thing
7. Rachel: "It's Not the Words, It's the Melodies"
Conclusion
