To what extent do contemporary worship songs in Scottish churches contain elements that are culturally Scottish?

Crockett, Peter (2018) To what extent do contemporary worship songs in Scottish churches contain elements that are culturally Scottish? MRes thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the prevalence of worship music that is culturally Scottish within the church in Scotland. Specifically, this work concentrates on what worship music has been written in Scotland between 1996 and 2016.
The field of ethnodoxology in congregational worship is growing in non-western speaking countries and churches, yet little in comparison has been studied within the western English speaking church. Therefore in this dissertation I am researching the extent to which the church in Scotland contains Scottish themes, melodies, lyrics or form as part of congregational worship.
My research focuses on contributing to a theology of the inculturation of worship music. It investigates various historic periods within Scottish church history and cultural moves towards or away from a Scotland centric voice within congregational worship music. These sections are indebted to historical research by WD Maxwell, Thorpe-Davie, Ian Bradley, and John Purser. I have used a musicological approach to analysing several Scottish worship songs and to an analysis of the fourth edition of the Church of Scotland Hymnary. I have also undertaken surveys into the prevalence of ‘Scottish’ hymns and songs in churches, interviews with Scottish worship artists, and two case studies of large Scottish churches. My results show that there is little prevalence of distinctively Scottish worship music in the church in Scotland. The last chapter presents an exploration of ethnodoxology through creative practice, in the form of five new worship songs in a Scottish style that I have composed. It concludes with some ideas for how the church can begin to inculturate its hymnody and congregational song and what that might look like in 21st Century Scotland. This is a research field which is important if the church in Scotland wishes to rediscover its authentic voice in sung worship, and will enable it to subsequently energise its missiology as it asks questions about its relevance to and place within society. This in turn can create useful reflections for the local and global church in differing traditions, which can be inspired by a worship style which is neither tradtional nor contemporary, but rooted in the tradition of the Scottish arts.

• Item Type: Thesis (MRes)
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: worship, liturgy, ethnodoxology, ethnomusicology, church, congregational.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity; B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BX Christian Denominations; M Music and Books on Music > M Music
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Gay, Rev. Dr. Doug
• Date of Award: 2018
• Depositing User: Mr Peter Crockett
• Unique ID: glathesis:2018-8870
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 05 Mar 2018 11:49
• Last Modified: 29 Jan 2021 09:24
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/8870

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