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Children's Music in the Southern Baptist Convention

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Children's Music in the Southern Baptist Convention ABSTRACT Title of Document: CHILDREN’S MUSIC IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF FOUR CHURCHES IN MARYLAND EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF DOCTRINE AND LOCAL CHURCH AUTONOMY ON CHILDREN’S MUSIC Melak Victoria Diab, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Directed By: Professors Robert C. Provine and Janet Montgomery Division of Musicology and Ethnomusicology and Division of Music Education, School of Music The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Protestant denomination and the largest group of Baptists in the United States. Furthermore, LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist publishing house, is the largest Christian publisher in the United States, producing various literature and media resources, including music material for children. However, the autonomous nature of the local Baptist church gives it absolute freedom to choose programs and materials apart from the Southern Baptist National Convention and LifeWay. This study examines the dynamics of the relationship between the National Convention and the local church as it pertains to children’s music. The study looks at the theological and organizational framework on the national level and the local church level and how they affect children and children’s music in an autonomous local church setting. The study reveals that all resources and programs related to children on the local church and national convention level, such as children’s choir and Vacation Bible School, and Sunday school, are directed towards teaching the children about the two most fundamental concepts of the faith, these are conversion (how to become a Christian) and worship (how to commune with God). The SBC curriculum for children is undergirded by Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences, and makes extensive use of creative movement and American Sign Language to capture children’s attention. However, the nature of local church autonomy gives each church the freedom to tailor SBC curriculum to its specific needs or to choose a curriculum from another denomination altogether. CHILDREN’S MUSIC IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF FOUR CHURCHES IN MARYLAND EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF DOCTRINE AND LOCAL CHURCH AUTONOMY ON CHILDREN’S MUSIC By Melak Victoria Diab Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Advisory Committee: Professor Robert C Provine, Chair Professor Janet Montgomery, Co-Chair Professor John Lawrence Witzleben Professor Allen Stairs Professor Bruce Carter © Copyright by Melak Victoria Diab 2011 Acknowledgements This work would not exist if not for the kind participation and friendship of the members of Berwyn Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Beltsville, First Baptist Church of Laurel, Redland Baptist Church, the Southern Baptist State Convention of Maryland/Delaware, and the Managing Directors of LifeWay’s Childhood Ministry Publishing. To the pastors, directors, leaders, educators, children, parents, and congregation members who spent their time patiently explaining their world and saw me through this process, thank you. I am grateful for Dr. Jozef Pacholczyk for encouraging me to pursue the doctoral program, for my advisor Dr. Robert Provine for his kindness, invaluable insights, and direction throughout my graduate studies and dissertation work, for Dr. Janet Montgomery for her insights on music education, and for the dissertation committee members for their invaluable critique of this work. I also thank Dr. Jonathan Dueck who was crucial in helping me set the groundwork for this study. ii Dedication Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... ii Dedication .................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Introduction to this Study.......................................................................................... 1 Literature Review...................................................................................................... 3 Ethnomusicology and Children’s Music ............................................................... 3 Ethnomusicology and Christian Music ................................................................. 6 Historical and Theological Resources on Baptist and Southern Baptist Music .. 10 Southern Baptist History, Polity, and Theology ................................................. 12 Child Education .................................................................................................. 17 Fieldwork and Research Scope ............................................................................... 17 The Field ................................................................................................................. 19 Summary of the Following Chapters ...................................................................... 22 Chapter 2: The Southern Baptist Convention ............................................................ 24 Origins..................................................................................................................... 24 Connections with Earlier Centuries .................................................................... 24 Early Baptist History........................................................................................... 26 Settlements and Missions Societies in America ................................................. 29 The Birth of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) ........................................ 36 Conservative Resurgence .................................................................................... 39 Belief and Doctrine ................................................................................................. 42 Baptist Faith and Message .................................................................................. 42 God and the Total Depravity of Man .................................................................. 43 The Plan of Redemption and Salvation .............................................................. 45 Believer’s Baptism .............................................................................................. 46 Baptist Musical Heritage and other Musical Influences ......................................... 47 Baptist Music in England .................................................................................... 48 Baptist Music in North America ......................................................................... 50 Denomination and Governance ............................................................................... 54 National Convention: Nashville, Tennessee ....................................................... 54 State Convention: Southern Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware ........... 56 Local Church Autonomy..................................................................................... 58 Description of the Four Churches in this Study .................................................. 61 Church Services, Events, and Musical Activities ................................................... 64 The Role of Church in a Member’s Life ................................................................. 68 The Role of Church in a Child’s life ....................................................................... 70 The Role of Children in Church Life ...................................................................... 71 Chapter 3: Music, Education, and the Local Church .................................................. 74 History of Sunday School ....................................................................................... 76 The Sunday School Songbook ................................................................................ 79 iv SBC and Sunday School ......................................................................................... 80 The Convention versus Local Church Autonomy .............................................. 83 LifeWay’s Sunday School Ideology ................................................................... 84 Overall Sunday School Curriculum .................................................................... 90 Music Programs at the Four Churches .................................................................... 94 Music in Sunday School ..................................................................................... 95 Children’s Graded Choirs ................................................................................... 99 Vacation Bible School ...................................................................................... 105 The Baptist Elementary School ............................................................................ 120 Para-Church
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