Transnational and Translational Aspects of Global Christian Congregational Musicking

Bibliographic Data

ID3353962
AuthorsMarcell Silva Steuernagel (0000-0002-6649-1928, Southern Methodist University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume12
Issue9
Pages732
Publication date2021-09-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel12090732
OpenAlexW3196881129
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

What happens to a worship song as it crosses geographical, cultural, and theological borders? How does this reallocation modify the role a song performs-and is performed-in context? This essay examines how religious songs that flow along transnational networks are transformed in the process of localization. It focuses particularly on how translation, conceived of broadly to encompass verbal and non-verbal aspects, happens within these processes. I argue that, while lyric translation remains a core component of these phenomena, it is but one of the multiple processes of localization that occur when a song travels. Throughout such processes, theology is (re)interpreted and songs are performed differently even as local congregations perceive their engagement with these repertoires as a type of connection to broader worshiping networks. Towards this end, it follows "Mighty to Save", an Australian worship song, on its transnational path to re-localization within the context of Brazilian gospel. Analyses of the lyrical and musical translations and transformations the song is subjected to can shed further light upon the complex dynamic of transnational flows of religious repertoires in today's interconnected world

Aesthetics · Art · Gospel · Literature · Musical · Sociology · Theology · Worship · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy

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Open DOIOpen Access