Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Music and Religious Change among Progressive Jews in London : Being Liberal and Doing Traditional - Ruth Illman

Music and Religious Change among Progressive Jews in London

Being Liberal and Doing Traditional

By: Ruth Illman

Hardcover | 15 September 2018

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $170.00

$151.75

11%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $37.94 with

 or 

Ships in 3 to 5 business days

This book analyzes religion and change in relation to music within the context of contemporary progressive Judaism. It argues that music plays a central role as a driving force for religious change, comprising several elements seen as central to contemporary religiosity in general: participation, embodiment, experience, emotions and creativity. Focusing on the progressive Anglo-Jewish milieu today, the study investigates how responses to these processes of change are negotiated individually and collectively and what role is allotted to music in this context. Building on ethnographic research conducted at Leo Baeck College in London (2014-2016), it maps how theologically unsystematic life-views take form through everyday musical practices related to institutional religion, identifying three theoretically relevant processes at work: the reflexive turn, the turn within and the turn to tradition. The analytic approach of vernacular religion functions as the structuring framework for the analysis, relating the locally embedded in-depth data to wider issues of relevance for larger Jewish contexts. The book explores how individuals and communities find ways of "being and doing Jewish" that feel historically and religiously grounded, yet meet their personal needs and correspond to the secular, urban lifestyle of their surrounding context. Themes arising in the analysis include the concepts of ambiguity, flexibility, and innovation as well as practices of bricolage and apprehensions of authenticity. The book also offers a detailed presentation of practices that arise as concrete insignia of these abstract processes of change: the (mostly) wordless singing of niggunim, exploring the traditional Jewish chant, nusach, and the increased interest in using Hebrew as a liturgical language in progressive settings. Vernacular religiosity takes form through a constant dialogue between personal, everyday creativity and historical, social, and theological structures. Therefore, the voices from the field are presented in dialogue with the theoretical arguments from Jewish studies, religious studies, and ethnomusicology. By bringing together individual stories and overarching societal trends, the study provides an inclusive perspective, integrating versatile dimensions of private and public, internal and external, personal and shared, expressed and experienced.
Industry Reviews
This carefully researched book is based on the author's longstanding experience. Its innovative exploration of how vernacular religion uses music to link with tradition has implications far beyond the community on which it is focused, particularly in the area of identity construction. Its lively use of narratives makes it a fascinating read.

More in Judaism

The Book of Enoch - Enoch

RRP $25.25

$23.99

Never Again : How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself - Jake Wallis Simons
The Torah For Dummies : For Dummies - Arthur  Kurzweil
The Family Frying Pan - Bryce Courtenay

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
The Book of Enoch - Enoch

$37.75

Bob Dylan : Jewish Roots, American Soil - Harry Freedman

RRP $32.99

$26.99

18%
OFF
Chopping Onions on My Heart : on losing and preserving culture - Samantha Ellis
The Temple Its Ministry and Services, Updated Edition - Alfred Edersheim
My Life as a Jew - Michael Gawenda

RRP $35.00

$28.75

18%
OFF
Judaism Is About Love : Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life - Shai Held
Why the Jews? : The Reason for Antisemitism - Dennis Prager

RRP $30.00

$22.75

24%
OFF
The World As I See It - Albert Einstein

$19.75

Feasts of the Bible Pamphlet - Rose Publishing

RRP $9.99

$8.99

10%
OFF