Department of English and American Studies 2017
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Mgr. Lucie Světloňová A Comparative Discourse Analysis of Early and Current Christian Worship Sung in the U.S. Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Wei-lun Lu, Ph. D. 2017 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to thank my supervisor for his insights and patience, also my husband, my whole family and my friends for their support, and last but not least my God. Table of Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 2 Religion in human life .................................................................................... 3 2.1 Role of religion ....................................................................................... 3 2.2 Role of worship ....................................................................................... 4 2.3 Christianity in the U.S. ............................................................................ 4 3 Discourse analysis .......................................................................................... 6 3.1 Defining discourse .................................................................................. 6 3.2 Defining discourse analysis..................................................................... 7 3.3 Defining corpus linguistics ................................................................... 10 3.4 Methods used in discourse analysis ...................................................... 12 3.4.1 Lexical analysis ............................................................................... 13 3.4.2 Metaphor analysis............................................................................ 16 3.5 Discourse analysis and religion ............................................................. 19 4 Analysis ........................................................................................................ 21 4.1 Data ....................................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Early worship songs ........................................................................ 21 4.1.2 Current worship songs ..................................................................... 23 4.2 Lexical analysis ..................................................................................... 24 4.2.1 Methodology ................................................................................... 24 4.2.2 Results ............................................................................................. 24 4.3 Metaphor analysis ................................................................................. 46 4.3.1 Methodology ................................................................................... 46 4.3.2 Results ............................................................................................. 54 5 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 68 6 References .................................................................................................... 70 7 Sources ......................................................................................................... 76 8 Resume ......................................................................................................... 86 1 Introduction I have noticed that current Christian worship songs express a very close relationship between believers and God. The question I have asked myself was whether this has been always so. I will thus compare current popular worship songs with early worship that was published most frequently in America in order to see whether there is a shift in the degree of intimacy in current worship songs. There is an article by anthropologist Tanya M. Luhrmann (2004) who claims that God has been perceived to be more personal today in the U.S. She says: “…congregants – even in ordinary middle-class suburbs – learn to have out-of-the-ordinary experiences and to use them to develop a remarkably intimate, personal God. This God is not without majesty. But he has become a pal” (p. 518). Based on Luhrmann’s claim, I expect to find more representations of love, intimacy and closeness in current Christian songs than in songs sung in the period from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. I will examine how the current and early worship songs differ in their use of language and what the difference says about principles found in the songs. I will also test Luhrmann’s hypothesis, based on investigation of sermons, interviews and Christian materials, on investigation of worship songs. Stubbs says that this is a process of para- replication which is a repetition of an experiment with new data of the same kind or of a different kind so that one can “see whether [findings] were an artefact of one single data set” (p. 124). One of the definitions in American Dictionary of the English Language captures the nature of worship when it says that it is “to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission; as a lover” (Webster's Dictionary 1828). I have chosen worship songs for the research because they are a unique way to express one’s relationship to God. 1 It will be a diachronic comparative discourse analysis by which I will use a corpus of one hundred early and a corpus of one hundred current worship songs. The analysis will be primarily corpus-based as I will look for expressions strongly associated with conceptual metaphors found in the Bible representing the intimate relationship between believers and God. Also, I will look for any instances of love and intimacy between the believer and God in the corpus-driven analysis. Both analyses should provide results that will show reality – whether there is a shift in the degree of intimacy in current worship songs. First, there will be a theoretical framework which will help to define discourse, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and conceptual metaphors and will also describe the state of contemporary Christianity in the U.S. Then, I will continue with the practical part doing lexical and metaphor analysis and end with final conclusions. 2 2 Religion in human life 2.1 Role of religion Religion is a complex concept for which one can find a whole range of various definitions. Religion may be described as a concept that “involves the co-presence of beliefs, ritualized experiences, norms, and groups connected to what people perceive as a transcendent entity (e.g. God, Allah, Higher Power)” (Koenig, 2012; Saroglou, 2014; as cited in Cappellen et al., 2014, p.485-486). Altogether, religion has been connected with the role of providing “higher well-being” (Koenig, 2012; Koenig et al., 2012; as cited in Cappellen et al., p.485). Thanks to past research, it has been found out that religion can bring contentment into life (Ellison & Fan, 2008; Salsman et al. 2005), “optimism and sense of self-worth” (Krause, 2005; Whittington & Scher, 2010; as cited in Cappellen et al., 2014, p.486), “perceived meaning in life” (Martos et al., 2010; Steger & Frazier, 2005; as cited in Cappellen et al., p.486), and “hope” (Ai et al., 2007; as cited in Cappellen et al., p.486). Lowie (1963) also mentions several roles of religion that are very important for functioning of individuals, communities and nations. For one thing, religion helps one to become a part of society. There are also other possibilities that can be used for the same purpose such as being engaged in “art, music, education, or science” (p.539) but religion is probably the most easily accessible one. For another, people can receive strength and encouragement that they need in times of trouble when they turn to religion. Also, religion can function as a strong support in life helping one to establish moral values and it “should also provide the basis for ethics” (p.539). Lowie observes that when there are attempts to destroy religion completely it causes the disappearance of “the accompanying ethical standards” (p.539). 3 Religion has been central to lives of many people all over the world across the eras. It can pervade and direct their thinking and decision making and is certainly worth studying if one wants to know more about people and language. I have decided to deal with Christianity and analyze Christian worship because I have some knowledge of it as it is close to my heart. 2.2 Role of worship Worship in Christian understanding can be described as “an activity which expresses certain religious attitudes, affections and experiences and tends to evoke them” (Astley, 1984, p.245). Worship is therefore an indispensable part of Christian life as it supports and encourages the faith of the believer. Smart (1972) says that worship is “relational and implies an object” (pp. 24f) that is the center of the worship and may be described as the “Focus” (p.51). The believers praise and herewith turn to the Focus directly and “this Focus transcends the manifestations” (p.51). Smart suggests that the nature of worship “implies the personalized character of the Focus” (p.51). That means that the Focus can be considered as an adequate partner in the worship communication. Smart also adds that, besides the role of strengthening the faith, worship helps people, both believers and unbelievers, to understand “the nature of religious reality” (p.51).