Football, hymns and funerals

The Guardian report on the funeral of Rhys Jones, the boy murdered in Liverpool last month, spent some time on the use of music. It was interesting in that it showed the re-embedding of pieces of music in new contexts, in three different ways. The playing of the Z-Cars theme (a terrace anthem at Everton, of whom he was a fan) on the organ, is in one sense relatively conventional - the use of a favourite piece of secular music at a funeral, and one which many of those present would previously have sung at Goodison Park. Also quite usual was the choice of hymns which he probably sang at school. Most interesting, I thought, was 'Abide with me' - a hymn of the nineteenth century, translated many years ago into use at the Cup Final, and now transferred back into church again.

Evangelicals and the arts

Following from my earlier post about a recent lecture on music at the St Paul's Theological Centre, an interesting story picked up by the online Guardian about recent ventures in evangelical engagement with the visual arts in the US, under the headline 'Evangelicals start push in the arts'. It is interesting both in itself, and for the fact that the Guardian picked the story up.

The abstract and the figurative in stained glass

Not very British, but I note a dispute over a new window in Cologne cathedral, being of an abstract, non-representational style, by Gerhard Richter. The Times reports opposition from the cardinal of Cologne, as well as some suggestion of the design being 'too Islamic' (because it eschews representation), which strikes me as something of a red herring in this context.

Stephen Bicknell

I note the Telegraph obituary of Stephen Bicknell, organ builder and historian. His most famous work is his history of the English organ, for CUP in 1996, which is still perhaps the most authoritative single-volume study.

Worship, language and the 'family history'

While reading Alana Harris's exploration of changes in language, and the arguments about maintaining tradition (in Redefining Christian Britain), I was reminded of part of Rowan Williams's recent Why study the past ?. I reviewed it a while back (for the Christianity and History Forum Bulletin), an extract of which reads:

"Williams sees the task of engaging with the past as one not purely of historical empathy for its own sake, but as a form of understanding and engaging with one’s fellow Christians in a way as necessary and as profound as cross-cultural and ecumenical conversation in the present. [....] Ever mindful of a constant and profound tension between the strangeness of the past and its urgency as our ‘family history’, it is the case that ‘our immersion in the ways in which they responded becomes part of the way we actually hear the call ourselves …’ (p.31) This leads Williams to a brief, yet to this reviewer, profoundly important, consideration of the degree to which the worship and conversation of the churches should embody languages and visible practices that both act as symbols of contemporary unity and enable a continuing ‘conversation’ with Christians of previous generations."

I'm sure there's a lot here that might help us understand conservative reactions to liturgical change in the 1960s and 1970s. Although it is rarely expressed in quite these terms, perhaps part of the opposition to the sidelining of the Book of Common Prayer is to do with a sense that some means of cross-generational communication is being lost. It puts the arguments about the Book of Common Prayer being part of a 'linguistic heritage' into a new light - it is quite easy to read these appeals to 'save the language of Shakespeare' purely as aesthetic arguments, or as more secular appeals to a national cultural inheritance.

Eric Gill at Ditchling

There is a very interesting exhibition at the Ditchling Museum in Sussex, on the time Gill spent in this small (and rather idyllic) Sussex village. It includes various pieces of Gill's work, sketches, models and letters, as well as exploring Ditchling connections with others including David Jones and the engraver Joseph Cribb. The exhibition itself is not huge, but when viewed alongside the museum's permanent exhibits relating to the subject, it is well worth a visit. There is, I understand, a catalogue in production, which should be ready in the autumn.

Redefining Christian Britain

I've recently received a copy of a new book: Redefining Christian Britain. Post 1945 perspectives, edited by Garnett, Grimley, Harris, Whyte and Williams. It is a very interesting collection of essays which together explore some different conceptual frameworks in which to consider the transformation of Christian Britain. From the point of view of the arts, there are five pieces of particular interest:

• Bernice Martin on Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy
• George Pattison on the visual arts
• William Whyte on church building
• Alana Harris on changes in liturgical language, and
• (and here's the advertising), Ian Jones' and my own piece on the idea of authenticity in music for worship.

SCM Press have very helpfully provided a PDF version of the Introduction which helps to place the overall intent of the book in relation to trends in the literature on the period.

Wesley the musical

The Guardian recently included an obituary of the actor Gordon Gostelow, principally known for a number of TV and film roles. He also took the lead in Ride ! Ride !, a musical about John Wesley, which was first produced in 1976. Whilst I knew about the churches producing works for their own use, this had a successful run at the Westminster Theatre. I shall try to find out a little more about how it was received, as I think this cross-over of religious work into the mainstream theatre would probably bear further work.

Callum Brown on twentieth-century Britain

There are some interesting points made by Callum Brown in his Religion and Society.. book of 2006 about the motivating factors behind the adoption of 'pop' music by the churches in the 1960s. See my review of it, and his response (both of which discuss music) at Reviews in History.

The emotional power of music

The St Paul's Theological Centre, part of Holy Trinity Brompton, have just released a sound recording of their annual lecture. Given by James Steven, it addresses the emotional power of music in worship, and whether this is something to be feared. I've yet to listen to it, but it is another example of the debates going on within the contemporary Christian music scene, and, I think, a sign of increased self-awareness within the scene as a whole (difficult to imagine the same debate happening amongst evangelicals in 1970, say).