"De Utilitate Cantorum": Unitive Aspects of Singing in Early Christian Thought
In this article, I draw from a number of church fathers who almost unanimously affirm the socially and cosmically unifying power of singing the Psalms. Often tacitly but unmistakably, they draw upon singing as a type of the person of Christ, a participative union of the divine with the human. Howeve...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
Published: |
2018
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In: |
Anglican theological review
Year: 2018, Volume: 100, Issue: 2, Pages: 291-309 |
IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity RD Hymnology |
Further subjects: | B
PSALMS (Musical form)
B Singing Religious aspects B Church History B CHRISTIAN attitudes B Doxology |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | In this article, I draw from a number of church fathers who almost unanimously affirm the socially and cosmically unifying power of singing the Psalms. Often tacitly but unmistakably, they draw upon singing as a type of the person of Christ, a participative union of the divine with the human. However, investigation of singings "illegitimate" pagan and Jewish heritage illustrates the reason for singing's ambivalence in the Christian mind. I conclude, however, that singing, employing the human body and its sensory faculties sanctified by Christ, constituted a far more valuable heuristic, pedagogic, and doxological tool in the early Christian centuries than we commonly appreciate today. |
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ISSN: | 2163-6214 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Anglican theological review
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/000332861810000204 |