Abstract
Churches in the United States have faced institutional decline due in part to an unprecedented half-century of intense cultural shift and digital acceleration. Many leaders responded to this disorientation with technical fixes that have exacerbated divisiveness rather than addressing the underlying crisis of alienation and loneliness. Driven by fear of decline, communities of faith have forsaken their alterity of purpose and become lost in the marketplace as a “purveyor of religious goods and services” (George Hunsberger). This thesis considers the imagery of Huub Oosterhuis’s hymn “What Is This Place?” in theological dialogue with the Voices of Hope—a choir of female offenders incarcerated at Georgia’s Lee Arrendale State Prison. Their collaborative ministry with Chaplain Susan Bishop models an adaptive response formed by the spirit of improvisation that sustains community under constant threat for survival. Through ritual musicking in a liminal context, the Voices of Hope embody an alterity of identity rooted in mutuality, inclusion, and wholeness. An ethnographic analysis of their lived example reorients questions of institutional decline away from technical fixes toward sacramental awareness best revealed, practiced, and sung together in holy relationship for the sake of others before God.
Degree Date
Spring 5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
D.P.M.
Department
Theology
Advisor
Dr. C. Michael Hawn
Second Advisor
Dr. Harold Recinos
Third Advisor
Rev. Susan Bishop
Subject Area
Music, Theology/Religious Education
Number of Pages
93
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Black, Bryan, "What Is This Place: Encountering the Body of Christ in Prison and Church through Sacrament and Ritual Musicking" (2024). Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses. 9.
https://scholar.smu.edu/theology_music_etds/9
