Subject Area
Music, Religion
Abstract
This thesis examines the foundational call to Christian unity, communal prayer for unity, and the practice of ecumenism through pastoral musicking and performing unity through the lens of performance studies. It asks the question: Can we sing and perform Christian unity? The ecumenical call is considered from ecumenical documents of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions since the Second Vatican Council. Ecumenical worship is considered a performance of unity viewed through the lens of performance studies with scholarship from ritual, liturgical, and church music studies. Two distinct services of ecumenical prayer are considered as “performances of unity.” One service is adapted from the daily prayer of the Taizé Community in France and the other is a newly created ecumenical liturgical service of healing and anointing. “Performing unity” is realized through creating, performing, and nurturing ecumenical Christian worship through embodied prayer practices, both old and new, and communal singing, all pointing to the living out and embracing God’s unifying mission in the world.
Degree Date
Spring 5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
D.P.M.
Department
Pastoral Music
Advisor
Dr. Marcell Silva Steuernagel
Second Advisor
Dr. C. Michael Hawn
Third Advisor
Victoria Tufano
Number of Pages
184
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Anderson, David James, "Singing Unity—Performing Ecumenism: Musicking and Ecumenical Prayer Through the Lens of Performance Studies" (2024). Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses. 14.
https://scholar.smu.edu/theology_music_etds/14
