"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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: MacDiarmid, Frazer (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: SAGE Publishing 2018
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)
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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.
ISSN:2163-6214
Contains:Enthalten in: Anglican theological review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/000332861810000204