The Sound of Worship © Mirella Klomp, 2009 No part of this book and the accompanying CD-ROM may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher. Cover photographs: Surinamese choir members singing during the celebration of Keti Koti in the Evangelical- Lutheran Congregation of Amsterdam Southeast; a local preacher of the Wesley Methodist Church, praying during a Sunday worship service. © Mirella Klomp, Amsterdam, 2007 Druk: Ridderprint, Ridderkerk. The research for and publication of this study was made possible by contributions from Stichting Luthers Diaconessenhuis Fonds and Ds Pieter Groote Fonds. The Sound of Worship Liturgical performance by Surinamese Lutherans and Ghanaian Methodists in Amsterdam The Sound of Worship Liturgische performance door Surinaamse Lutheranen en Ghanese Methodisten in Amsterdam (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor in de godgeleerdheid aan de Protestantse Theologische Universiteit te Utrecht – Kampen – Leiden op gezag van de rector, prof dr F.G. Immink, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 23 november 2009 des middags te 4.15 uur door Mirella Christianna Maria Klomp geboren op 9 juli 1979 te Amersfoort Promotoren: Prof. dr. M. Barnard (Protestantse Theologische Universiteit) Prof. dr. H.C. Stoffels (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Prof. dr. M.J.M. Hoondert (Universiteit van Tilburg) To Christiaan Winter – kindred spirit, as a token of our fellowship CONTENTS Preface xi Abbreviations & Clarifications xiii List of illustrations xvii CD-ROM contents xix 1 Looking at the Sound of Worship 1 An Introduction to the Study 1.1 Research Subject and Definition of the Problem 1 1.2 European Academic Research in Liturgical Studies 3 1.2.1 Orientation 3 1.2.2 Modern Liturgical Studies 4 1.3 Question and Method 5 1.3.1 Question and Aim 5 1.3.2 Structure and Method 6 1.4 Selection of Loci 7 1.4.1 Presence of Immigrant Churches 7 1.4.2 A Multicultural and Multi-religious Society 8 1.4.3 Doing Research in Two Immigrant Churches 8 Part I A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION OF THE FIELD 2 Worship 13 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 Sacramental, Incarnational Worship 13 2.3 Experiencing Life and Worship 18 2.3.1 Experiencing Life and Worship in Suriname 19 2.3.2 Experiencing Life and Worship in Africa 20 2.3.3 Experiencing Life and Worship in Europe 21 2.4 Conclusions 22 3 Performance 25 3.1 Introduction 25 3.2 Performing Worship 25 3.3 Worship and Theatre 28 3.4 Body Motion in Worship 29 3.4.1 Body Motion in African Culture and Worship 30 3.4.2 Body Motion in European Culture and Worship 31 3.5 Conclusions 34 viii The Sound of Worship 4 Sound 35 4.1 Introduction 35 4.2 Music as Sound 35 4.2.1 Ritual Sound 36 4.2.2 Sound as Performance 36 4.3 Cultural Characteristics 38 4.3.1 Surinamese Approach to Sound 38 4.3.2 West African Approach to Sound 40 4.3.3 African-American Approach to Sound 46 4.3.4 European Approach to Sound 53 4.4 Conclusions 58 Part II AN EMPIRICAL SOUNDING OF THE FIELD 5 Methodological Account 63 5.1 Introduction 63 5.2 Empirical Research in Liturgical Studies 63 5.3 Research Method: Liturgical-musical Ethnography 65 5.3.1 Qualitative Research 65 5.3.2 Ethnographic Research 66 5.4 The Sound of Worship – A Liturgical-musical Ethnographic Study 77 5.4.1 Elements of the Research Domain: Sound, Performance, Worship 77 5.4.2 Strategy of Triangulation 77 5.4.3 Research Sources 78 5.4.4 From Empirical Data to Analysed Qualities 79 5.4.5 Course of Research 83 6 ‘We are rich!’ 85 The Sound of Worship as performed by Surinamese Lutherans 6.1 Introduction 85 6.2 The Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation of Amsterdam Southeast 85 6.3 The Sound of Worship in ELCAS – Two Thick Descriptions 87 6.3.1 The Celebration of Pentecost, May 27, 2007 88 6.3.2 The Celebration of Keti Koti , July 1, 2007 94 6.4 Qualities of the Sound of Worship 95 6.4.1 Openness 95 6.4.2 Patchwork 107 6.5 Balance: Sound Qualities in the Contextual Setting of ELCAS 115 Contents ix 7 ‘When praising God, you cannot stand still!’ 117 The Sound of Worship as performed by Ghanaian Methodists 7.1 Introduction 117 7.2 The Amsterdam Society of the Wesley Methodist Church 117 7.3 The Sound of Worship in WMC – A Thick Description 120 7.3.1 Service on Sunday January 28, 2007 120 7.4 Qualities of the Sound of Worship 126 7.4.1 Responsiveness 126 7.4.2 Holistic Cohesion 141 7.5 Balance: Sound Qualities in the Contextual Setting of WMC 154 Part III THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION AND EVALUATION 8 The Sound of Worship 157 8.1 Introduction 157 8.2 Encountering the Living Christ in the Sound of Worship 158 8.3 Local Theologies of Sound in ELCAS and WMC 161 8.4 The Sound of Worship from Other Theological Perspectives 167 8.5 Evaluation 173 Samenvatting 177 Appendix 1 Orders of Service 183 of the Thick Descriptions in Chapters 6 and 7 Appendix 2 Overviews of Qualities 187 of the Sound of Worship in ELCAS and WMC Bibliography 191 Curriculum Vitae 197 PREFACE This study results from teamwork, taken in its broadest sense. A number of people have, each in their own ways, contributed to the process of writing this book. Therefore, at the beginning of this study, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to them. I owe a large debt of gratitude to the members and ministers of both the Evangelical- Lutheran Congregation of Amsterdam Southeast and the Amsterdam Society of the Wesley Methodist Church. I am particularly grateful to the Reverend Maartje Wildeman and the Very Reverend Isaac S. Amoah, who, during the fieldwork I undertook, did not put the slightest obstacle in my way to carry out the research the way I wanted to, and indeed always cordially welcomed and helped me. I wish to thank all respondents who put their trust in me and found the time to share their stories with me. They were the people I intensively worked with for a period of ten months – a time which I greatly enjoyed. Many thanks I owe to my supervisors. Marcel Barnard encouraged me from the very beginning to set up an explorative project that would leave the traditional ways of research on church music. He particularly supported me in thinking about the research subject in systematic ways. In addition, he familiarized me with the world of academic research, teaching me which matters therein were to be taken seriously and which were not, and remarked cleverly that I was in need of a holiday every single time I was about to be swallowed up by the project. Hijme Stoffels evoked my enthusiasm for investigating immigrant churches and was a walking encyclopaedia to me when I was in need for methodological advice. After each conversation we had, he expressed how much he enjoyed my research and by doing so, stimulated me to continue my work. Martin Hoondert has been of great help with his knowledge of (liturgical) music and of empirical research in Liturgical Studies. He expertly and in detail commented on each chapter I delivered, and I am deeply grateful for that. To have these three experts as my supervisors was a blessing. My colleagues in the Practices research group, of whom I particularly mention Rein Brouwer, Ronelle Sonnenberg and Annemieke van der Veen, have been of much help, thinking along with my project and regularly giving feedback. I also thank Eddy van der Borght and my fellow students of the MARRT, who witnessed my drawing the first outlines of this study and stimulated me to make it more concrete and narrow down my plan. I am very grateful to Mary McGann, who, after I first contacted her, started her reply by welcoming me as a colleague in the emerging field of liturgical ethnography. Her ongoing enthusiasm about my work had a contagious effect and encouraged me along the way. Much gratitude I owe to Mattijs Ploeger, whose systematic theological know-how helped me sharpen my ideas. I thank my friends in Ghana, more particularly J. Kwabena Asamoah- Gyadu and his family, for their warm friendship and unstinting support and guidance during my round trip of their country. I owe many thanks to Kees Zwart for the great discussions we had on the issues that arose both from our trip to Ghana and from the respective chapters of this study. During the last months of my writing this study, the support and pep talk of Annet Tijhuis has been inestimable. I hope to be able to support her equally well during her research. The governors of the Evangelical-Lutheran Seminary appointed me for two years to carry out the research, and the governors of the Stichting Luthers Diakonessenhuis Fonds put their financial trust in me. I am greatly thankful to both for the opportunity to do in-depth research into a subject that is very dear to me. This provisional publication was made possible by the Ds Pieter Groote Fonds and the Stichting Luthers Diakonessenhuis Fonds; I am grateful for their financial support. Thanks to Elsa Aarsen for allowing me to include some of her pictures in this study, and to Theo Proeskie for editing the English text of this study in a very short period of time.