Creative energies and contemporary modes: The changing hymnody of the United Church of Canada.

Abstract

While traditional hymns are still in use in the United Church of Canada, many of them reflect the musical styles and theological concepts of past generations. Hymns in a more popular, contemporary musical idiom, expressing current beliefs and societal values are now gaining favour. Based on the assumption that music, and in particular the singing of hymns by a church community, can aid in the definition of a collective identity, and at the same time can provide a vehicle for the expression of individual needs, aspirations, and emotions, this thesis examines the various hymnals that have been used by the United Church of Canada as an articulation of theological, social, and individual concerns of particular times, places and communities. Through an ethnography of a particular church congregation, this study examines how their choice of hymns and performance practices are fundamental to the production and expression of the distinct church culture of this community in the 1990s.