Theological Music: Introduction to Theomusicology

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Theomusicology is musicology as a theologically informed discipline. Borrowing thought and method from anthropology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy, it has as its subject the myriad cultural worlds of ethical, religious, and mythological belief. Theomusicological research into cultural/intercultural reflections on the ethical, the religious, and the mythological involves the study of music in the domain or communities of the sacred, the secular, and the profane. By examining the depths of sacrality, secularity and profanity in the music of civilization's many cultures, the theomusicologist can increasingly discern how particular peoples perceive the universal mysteries that circumscribe their mortal existence, and how the ethics, theologies and mythologies to which they subscribe shape their worlds. To accomplish his goal, Spencer divides his book into two parts. Part one functions as a methodological exposition to the second part. It defines the meaning of and suggested method for theomusicology and delineates the theomusicologist's best and broadest possible perspective on the world. Part two illustrates how theomusicology can, and at its best does, involve dialogue with different disciplines as well as a gamut of historical epochs and movements. Each chapter is divided into sections based on the particular text theomusicology has read and interacted with. Spencer's work aims to establishe theomusicology as a scholarly discipline and a valid research approach to studying world religious, mythological, and ethical beliefs via music. It should be of interest to historical musicologists, ethomusicologists, and scholars of sacred music.

Author Bio

JON MICHAEL SPENCER is Associate Professor of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of As the Black School Sings, Sacred Symphony (both Greenwood Press, 1987), Protest and Praise, and numerous articles.