BluefieldComp / Youth Culture in Contemporary Christian Music

315

S. Yoon: Tuning in Sacred: Youth Culture and Contemporary Christian Music IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

Tuning in Sacred: Youth Culture and Contemporary Christian Music

Sunny YoonDepartment of Media and CommunicationHanyang University17 Haengdang dong songdong KuSEOUL, 133-791, South KoreaE-mail: [email protected]

UDC: 783.25Received: April 7, 2016Primljeno: 7. travnja 2016.Accepted: November 10, 2016Prihvaćeno: 10. studenoga 2016.

Abstract - RésuméSacred music has always been a source of controversy through out history since it is an integral part of the liturgy. Contemporary Christian music (CCM) has reached a pinnacle of controversy as its realm of consumption expands globally and inter-denominationally. This study was inspired by the idea of Ricoeur’s phenomenology of religion to examine the contem-porary practice of liturgy and sacred music. This brings into discussion the historical contro-versy and cultural milieu of adopting popular culture into youth ministry. Korean case is important because Korea represents one of the strongest Christian populations in the world and at the same time challenges – a drop in the number of young members and a huge generational gap in its church congregations. In order to scrutinize the concrete proc ess of youth culture in the Christian community, an empiri-cal study of youth ministry in seven mega churches in Seoul in South Korean was conducted as a case study.Keywords: contemporary Christian music • youth culture • theology of music • Korean churches • sociology of music

Introduction

South Korea has a strong Christian population not only in terms of numbers (22.5% Protestant and 10% Catholic), but also in terms of fervor among the congregation. Statistically, 78% of Korean Christians go to church every week, which is different from Europeans and American cases that claim to be Christians but regular church attendees are limited to single digit, for example 6.7% in Denmark and about 2% in UK (Jeon 2013, 70; Hjarvard 2011). However, South Korean Christianity has recently faced two challenges. First, the number of Christians is dropp ing off as Korean Christians become a target of social criticism due to the abuse of power among Christian leadership, as well as the political social power shared by Christians in society. Second, Ko-rean Christianity is gendered and generational. The majority of church members are women, and they are either seniors or middle-aged. This is a similar situation in other countries, but the generation gap in the Korean church is more radical because of the

S. Yoon: Tuning in Sacred: Youth Culture and Contemporary Christian MusicIRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

316

country’s cultural traditions. The majority of teenagers leave their churches in order to concentrate on entrance exams to colleges because education is so impor-tant and acceptance to college is competitive in Korea, and many of these young people do not start attending church again after getting into college. This creates a huge generational gap in church congregations. In most small and middle-sized Korean churches, there are hardly any youth members.

Korean churches make every effort to attract young people to the church; a common strategy is for youth ministry to adopt popular culture into the church which includes contemporary Christian music (CCM) and worship dance. It is a controversial issue what popular culture affects to Christian liturgy and faith despite the fact churches currently adopt popular music and media throughout the world.

There has been ongoing debate about CCM and the adoption of popular culture in the Christian liturgy, and the arguments range from extreme charging against devilish to appreciating as progressive. The debate on popular culture in the liturgy is not only current but also dates back to reformist history since the 16th century and has lasted until now.

This study conducted empirical research on young people’s evaluation of their church services and music in South Korea as a case study. A survey of the youth congregation in the ten largest churches in South Korea was attempted. These mega churches were able to maintain viable membership of young people and practice youth worship. This empirical study is useful for checking in with the reality of youth ministry and evaluation of insiders’ view. It will examine youth ministry from the view of the young people how they feel about their faith, and contempo-rary patterns of liturgy. Using Ricoeur’s hermeneutics, the view of youth congrega-tion will be analyzed in light of identity issue. This will show practices of youth service in the larger social and cultural contexts by bringing in historical discussions of sacred music and philosophical debates on human identity and spirituality.

Contemporary Church Music: Devilish or Progressive

There are ongoing debates on the use of CCM in liturgy because it is derived from popular music, which comes from secular culture. The polemics on CCM can be summarized into three aspects. First, opposition to CCM says that it is the secularization of sacred music and church liturgy. It is clear that CCM is adopting the style of popular music that the mass in the society is fond of. This worldliness and secularization may be viewed contrary to the biblical command and the Christian tradition that churches have kept for centuries. However, others favor CCM as well as other means of adopting popular culture in church services, such as media and popular arts, and they make the argument that Christian teaching is far from denouncing people’s lives and cultures. The Christian mandate against

S. Yoon: Tuning in Sacred: Youth Culture and Contemporary Christian Music

317

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

worldliness claims to be from the Bible, particularly Romans 12:2: »Do not be conformed to this world.« However, the world in Greek, kosmos, has many mean-ings, and what Paul meant in this passage does not refer to the world as human civilization, but instead the sinful world away from God’s commands (Haldane 1847, 556; Marshall 1978, 143). The same Greek word was also used for »God loved the world« (John 3:16) and »Christian to love the world« (1 John 2:15). This world certainly does not oppose the Christian law. Thus, the first opposition against CCM can be refuted by arguing that the danger of secularization does not lie in sharing the style of popular culture, but instead in the sinful content that is the basis of its popularity.

The second point against CCM is related to moral issues. Pop music, particu-larly rock music, is frequently associated with sex, drugs and other types of self-destruction. Some extremists argue that rock and heavy metal are demonic and that rockers worship devils (BLP 1990; Stowe 2011). However, it can be claimed that even if it is true that delinquent behaviors occur after rock concerts, there is no evidence that the music stimulates such behaviors. Miller (1993) argues that all music, including classical, has been warned against as devilish at a certain point in history. Even medieval polyphonies were feared by Catholic popes, and tradi-tional hymns were totally banned in Protestant churches, seen as devilish in history. Thus, it would be a hasty conclusion to say that CCM is morally corrupt, different from classical music or any other type of sacred music.

The third charge against CCM is that the music is of poor quality. This view-point pursues the musical excellence found in classical music while denouncing the aesthetics of popular music. Most mainstream churches acknowledge classical sacred music as having musical excellence compared to the mediocre quality of CCM, viewed as only being fit for novices and the young minority. This criticism, however, is also questioned by a new cultural view ignited by post-modernism (Taruskin 2009; Spinks 2010). It is motivated by elites in power to distinguish high culture and low culture. The social class is the foremost basis of such power, in that aristocratic and bourgeois cultures have been highly evaluated as high culture, and the popular culture enjoyed by the masses has been disregarded as low culture. According to post-modernists, there are no clear guidelines to evaluate the quality of cultural products; it is a matter of cultural taste. Addition-ally, an ethnic bias is embedded in this cultural distinction. The musical excel-lence of classical music is only judged as so in Western European history, which is a highly ethnocentric view of evaluation. The cultural tastes of women and other social minority groups are often regarded as having poor aesthetic quality as well. In this way, high quality music has been historically consolidated by mainstream power − male, Western, and bourgeois − while suppressing other types of music as poor in quality and hence illegitimate.

Although the polemics for and against CCM and other adoptions of popular culture into the liturgy are intense and persistent, discussion of CCM seems to go


318

beyond these polemics. Even when churches adopt means of popular culture and genres of pop music for the purpose of attracting young people, the ministerial goal is not being accomplished since young people keep leaving the church. The dropping numbers of the youth congregation may result from social changes and the weakening impact of religion on people’s lives in the so-called post-modern world, but there are a series of studies arguing that CCM and contemporary Christian cultures fail to solicit young people to the church. According to these studies, young people in the post-modern era are tired of CCM inherited from Jesus rock for baby boomers and of a spectacular approach to worship that at-tracted their parents’ generation (Lucarini 2002; McCall 2007). In the 21st century, young people are no longer fond of the theatrical performance type of service or CCM played by mega churches in the USA (Kimball 2004). Kimball suggests that young Christians are not very fond of mass culture or the secularization of church music, which were popular among the younger populations in the late 20th cen-tury. Instead, the contemporary young generation is exposed to diversity and is searching for active spiritual experiences. By looking at record sales, we know that contemporary youngsters are fond of diverse genres of music including musica antica, medieval chants, and ethno-music from other continents. Young people would like to be active participants in church services instead of being pas-sive spectators in concert-like church services. The booming popularity of Taize in North America and Europe demonstrates this new kind of interest among con-temporary young Christians. Taize worship emphasizes the spiritual experience and meditation by repeating simple music and pausing for silence, which is quite different from the atmosphere of youth services that play CCM by professional bands in mega churches.

Kimball and others have attempted to create a new environment of youth worship for the new generation in the 21st century. They have transformed youth worship from concert-type services using CCM bands and theatrical sermons to participatory worship, called »emerging worship«. This worship is designed to establish a smaller and freer environment, with candle lighting and silent prayer, compared to the previous type of worship led by loud band music and public speeches as the sermons. By eliminating the high altar and top-down form of archi-tecture, people sit in a circle, often on a soft couch or floor with bare feet in emerging worship. People are allowed to move around during the service and to disclose their spiritual experiences by drawing pictures, dancing, singing and expressing themselves in other ways. This type of service has achieved some success and con-curred with the spiritual demands of young people in the contemporary world.

As the cases of emerging worship indicate, the debate on CCM becomes more complicated when cultural preferences between generations are accelerated in the contemporary world. There are still a significant number of studies promising that CCM attracts young people to the church, and it has become the rule of thumb of youth ministry to use CCM in many churches (Lindenbaum 2012;


319

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

Moberg 2012; Litsch 2001; Webber 1994). The cultural dynamics of changes in sacred music need to be further elaborated upon.

Sociology of Contemporary Church Music

CCM seems apt to certain social groups since it is played mostly in black churches and in youth ministry. However, it may be an oversimplification to attrib-ute CCM to social minority groups. The history of CCM shares many aspects of the development of popular music (Gersztyn, 2012; Baker 1985; Cusic 210). Looking into the history of popular music closely, it is known that even rock music was not initiated by a social minority or underground movement at first, but from main-stream commercial music in the late 1950s. It was not until the late 1970s that rock music and versions of rock, such as punk, metal and alternative, became an under-ground movement and symbol of social resistance (Frith 2010; Hebdige 1991). By the same token, CCM has accompanied the rock ‘n’ roll history supported by baby boomers of the 1950s. The first generation of CCM heroes were not all social mi-norities, but included white singers such as Elvis Presley and Dion Dimucci (Gersz-tyn, 2012, p. 9). From Elvis to Bob Dylan, many rock heroes started their career as church singers (Stowe 2011). From the early history of CCM, it has been tied with commercial business for a wider audience rather than just internal church mem-bers. The early commercial success was recorded by the case of Mylon Lefevre, who published hundreds of CCM albums, including Elvis Presley, in the 1960s (ibid., 34).

CCM faced a new phase in the 1970s, as society was going through diverse social movements, including the hippie and anti-war movements, along with sup-pression under McCarthy (Stowe 2011; Ratcliff & Davies 1991). During this period of time, CCM shared the same sentiments with social movements and churches led the Jesus movement, highlighting the development of Jesus rock. Churches such as Calvary Chapel in Orange county started with a small number of people and received national attention from the success of CCM in the 1970s (Gersztyn 2012, 49-63). CCM was diversified into different genres in the 1970s and 1980s, including rock, folk, blues, jazz and musicals, and was led by southern gospel and Californian musical traditions. In the last decade of the 20th century, CCM was further diversified and grew as a global business beyond American territory by introducing European music such as British pop, as well as Asian and Latin tradi-tions of music. Black Christian music that locally evolved on its own path from the 19th century also attracted national attention during this time, as illustrated by the cases of the Blind Boys of Alabama and Fairfield Four.

In the 1990s, with the expansion of Christian music stations on the radio and the expansion of the global market, mainstream record companies such as EMI and Warner got into the business of CCM by merging existing Christian music labels and publishing CCM albums (Gersztyn 2012, 91-100). The market expan-


320

sion was further preceded by North American CCM in the age of globalization in the 21st century. At the same time, CCM in world music was acknowledged as diverse nations developed their own music. Particularly, Pentecostal churches in Africa and Latin America expanded genres in sacred music in the course of making vernacular and nationalist Christian songs. Rommen (2007) conducted an ethnographic study of church music in Caribbean countries and found how gos-pelyso and other genres of local music were absorbed into sacred music through long struggles. This case study echoes similar trends in other parts of the world, including local Christianity in Africa and Asia (Corten & Fratani 2001; Harvey 1995; Linhart & Livermore 2011). Nationalism and cultural identity of local people are the stimuli of this struggle in global churches. The Christian music industry has further developed along with the technological development of media in the digital age in the 21st century.

The historical development of CCM illustrates the complexity of the social agenda involved in CCM. It is a significant part of the music industry, and social power has evolved with CCM like other genres of popular music. Even if CCM is adopted as a strategy to attract young people to the churches, it is not simply a matter of personal taste or tactic, but has social power embedded in it. The growing use of CCM in contemporary churches intensifies controversy over the nature of sacred music and liturgy. This is because sacred music is not free from social issues and commercial interests.

Controversy on the Nature of Sacred Music

Although sacred music has been a subject of controversy throughout history because it is an important part of church life and liturgy, the most intense debate on sacred music occurred during the reformation period. Martin Luther was an important figure of this debate, being an initiator of reformed church music as well as the founding father of the Christian reformation. He wrote 30 songs1 in the process of reforming the liturgy and published a book of his hymns, including A Mighty Fortress is Our God, that were incorporated and are still sung in churches all over the world. Although he made a great contribution to the liturgical refor-mation by way of creating music, his theology of music has been constantly challenged. Luther was criticized not only by Catholic churches but also by other reformers. Luther took the middle position on the controversy of idols between radical reformers and Catholics, and he took the ambivalent position with regard to church music (Luther 1523; Lull 2005). Zwingli and other radical reformers heavily attacked Luther, so he had to escape from the reformers as he did from

1 Luther put 36 songs in the Hymn Book, but actually wrote 30, as 6 songs are a repetition of the same melodies.


321

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

Catholic priests. Luther’s ambivalent position was frequently cited by historians as a political compromise of a leading priest during his time. However, he develop ed a distinct view on music that was different from that of other radical reformers, who tried to eliminate music from the liturgy.

Luther perceived music as a part of the original creation before the fallen Adam or human sin, so that the physicality of music itself shares in the divine good and has power over defeating devils and evil spirits (Leaver 2007). He pursued a musical quality of excellence because he believed that music offered the fundamental principle of true knowledge. Music was a part of quadrivium, or the fundamental four studies believed to be pursuing true knowledge, along with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. For Luther, the physicality of music could be consonant with the rule of the universe, as music represented the mathematical principle of time. In this sense, Luther appreciated complex and high music such as the sacred music of Josquin Desprez, one of the most sophisticated composers during the Renaissance.

In contrast, Zwingli and his followers challenged music as dangerous and malicious. In the same manner that radical reformers abolished any kind of idols and visual artifacts from the churches and burnt them during the reformation movement in the 16th century, they attempted to abolish music from the church (Pettegree 2005). This radical movement was motivated not only by political purpose, but also by philosophical belief. Zwingli, for example, saw music as the invention of humans, who were already corrupted and sinful. This was the view of Western theology derived from neo-Platonic dualism, echoed by St Augustine and medieval scholars. Zwingli was particularly influenced by Erasmus, who reinterpreted neo-Platonic dualism to oppose the medieval practice of Christian-ity and to restore humanism in the Renaissance era (Kim 2008). For Zwingli, music was dangerous because it affected the human body and manipulated human emotions by its tunes and rhythms. In Zurich liturgy, music was totally banned and replaced by prayer by the guidance of Zwingli. As the reformist movements transitioned into the third stage led by Calvin at the end of the 16th century, music was revived in the liturgy, but the basic assumption of music was still intact and music was only partially allowed in the liturgy (Garside 1979). For both Zwingli and Calvin, music was dangerous because of its physicality, which was attributed to sinful human invention. Holiness and sacredness could come only from God and his words; the Bible that was believed to be written by God’s inspiration. Even for Calvin, who allowed music in Genevan liturgy, music had to be limited to Psalm singing that delivered God’s word. In addition, he did not allow any musical interruption of the scriptural word by embellishment or other musical technique.

The different views on music among reformers in the 16th century were inherited in the Christian history that followed, as well as the traditions of church


322

denominations. Lutheran churches developed high sacred music led by Bach and Handel in the 18th century, which became a source of Western classical music, whereas other Protestants, such as Calvinism and European reformed churches, emphasized biblical messages and congregational singing with less sophisticated music. Different ideas about sacred music influenced the development of music history in general and musical theology in particular.

The importance of historical debates on sacred music is not only limited to the significance of musicology and denominational traditions, but also lies in the fact that history repeats itself in a similar pattern. The same issues in the debate on the nature of sacred music discussed during the reformation are still being discussed now. The main point of controversy that has come along since the 16th century through the 18th, 19th and still now in the 21st century is the debate on the nature of sacred music.

Luther was the main figure to expand the scope of sacred music by amalgam-ating secular music into it. Out of 30 songs that he included in his hymnal book, the majority were revivals of old songs, including folk songs and Catholic mass music. Luther mentioned that there were »so many beautiful songs while in the religious field we have such rotten, lifeless stuff« (Friedenthal 1967, 464). It is clear that he appreciated secular songs more than sacred songs in this statement, and he incorporated folk songs and old tunes into his hymns. Luther’s position was denounced by other reformers as well as Catholics who tried to keep the strict sense of sacred music separate from secular music. Calvin banned the adoption of folk tunes and other secular songs in the Genevan Psalter. The Council of Trent, also known as the Catholic renovation, decided to keep the integrity of sacred music by abandoning any imitation of secular music from liturgical music (Monson 2002; O’Malley 2013). The Roman Church leadership at the Council of Trent prohibited the common practice during the time of emulating folk songs and even military marches familiar to the public in the church music.

The nature of sacred music is challenged whenever new reformation move-ments emerge. In the 18th century, Wesley ignited spiritual movements and attempted to combine sacred and secular music while charging against the formality of unspiritual rituals in Christian services of the time. Charles Wesley was known to write 6,000 hymns, including the famous Hark the Herald Angels Sing, which imitates Mendelssohn’s secular music (Miller, 125-26). In the 19th century, when revival movements hit North America, sacred music again adopt-ed American folk tunes and music with a fast beat that was previously considered devilish. The most successful evangelist in this period, Moody, worked with San-key, who published Gospel Songs that emulated folk tunes and secular songs in order to ignite millions of people spiritually at camp meetings (Dowley 2011). In this way, the question of the nature of sacred music returns whenever theological changes and liturgical reformation occurs in history.


323

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

The debate on the nature of sacred music became even more controversial in the 21st century when CCM became widespread globally. The contemporary debates on CCM echo the controversy on the nature of sacred music in history. The worldliness, morality and quality of music that CCM is frequently charged with are the same points that have been debated throughout Christian history by reformers in the 16th century, reformist Catholics and Methodists in the 18th cen-tury and Evangelists in the 19th century. The distinction between sacred and sec-ular culture has been defined differently throughout history depending on the theological position of reformers and church denominations. Contemporary church music illustrates the strongest case of blurring sacred and secular music by incorporating popular music into church liturgy and by expanding the realm of its consumption widely.

Sacred Music and Human Identity

Controversy on the nature of sacred music brings up the issue of human identity. There have been competing views on divine and human identities when-ever religious conflicts and new reformation movements have occurred in history. Reformers in the 16th century were motivated by their views on God and human-ity that they believed as being distorted by religious authority. Despite the differ-ent positions on the nature of sacred music among reformers, including Luther, Zwingli and Calvin discussed earlier, they all revolted against conventional rituals and rules of churches suppressing human freedom and individual faith during their times. The catchphrase of Luther’s Sola Scriptura emphasized individ-ual freedom away from the power and repression of church authorities. As for sacred music, Luther emphasized vernacular music so that ordinary people in the c ongregation can understand the meaning of the songs and express their faith without the mediation of a church authority from the top. Calvin also encouraged the congregation to sing Psalms to erect spirituality for God with no interference from professional choirs or instrumental players. Zwingli concurred on the importance of vernacular language in the Bible and prayer as well as the individ-ual practice of Christian faith, while he defied music in liturgy. Diverse policies of these reformers were derived from the same motivation to free human beings from bondage to the rules of Catholicism and its rituals. The bottom line of the reformist endeavor was to aim for reviving humanism during the Renaissance.

However, the humanist view on the liturgical and musical reformation in the Renaissance period was developed based on a rather simple presumption of humanity. Reformers like Luther assumed that humans would be free, and worship and church practices would be »purified« once the overpowering church authority and its repression of the people were abolished. This line of reformation movement in the 16th century was challenged by following religious reformers


324

later in history, and the Renaissance ideal of human freedom is fundamentally questioned by contemporary philosophical theories. These contemporary theo-ries including semiotics, psychoanalysis, hermeneutics and post-structuralism criticize the Enlightenment philosophy and the modernist view of human free-dom by addressing a new view of human identity. The main point of this view is that conditions of human life are complex so that human freedom cannot be achieved solely by abolishing the outer source of power and repression.

Contemporary theologians and philosophers such as Paul Ricoeur and Paul Tillich have tried to explain the complex dynamics involved in the liturgy and Christian faith using hermeneutics, cultural theories and psychoanalysis. The main issue addressed by these theorists may not be different from century-long theological questions such as how humans relate to God, who is invisible and unknown. Yet, the difference between previous theologians and contemporaries lies in the focus of interest. The central interest of previous theologians was targeted against outer objects such as pagans and heresy in early Christianity and the corruption of church authority and repressive religious practices in medieval history, whereas contemporary theology focuses more on the internal matters of the people.

Ricoeur initiated turning the interest of theology into the hermeneutic process of human engagement in religion and spirituality. He argues that symbols are the fundamental basis of human engagement. Symbols include languages and any form of signs through which people can perceive meaning. In his book, Symbolism of Evil (1967), Ricoeur argues that evils are symbols with no physical body. Evils are not the objective beings that we frequently picture as serpents and ugly mon-sters with horns. Retaining the Augustinian concept of divinity, Ricoeur further elaborates on the philosophical sophistication of the symbolic nature of evil, which cannot exist independently but is a parasite to a real being. By the same token, human engagement in religious activities and spiritual experiences can exist only through symbols. The human condition is sinful, and redemption can-not be attained unless one hermeneutically engages in interpreting symbols. In the first chapter of The Symbolism of Evil, Ricoeur discusses the phenomenology of confession, which is the linguistic interpretation of human sin. According to him, there is no sin without confession. At the same time, there is no redemption with-out confession, either.

For Ricoeur, human freedom is not the final goal to achieve the ideal state of human life, unlike reformist arguments in the age of the Renaissance and Enlight-enment. Reformers and revolutionists in modern history worked hard to break the chains on human freedom, but human freedom has always faced a new chal-lenge and new forms of power in history. Ricoeur makes a clear statement in his book, Fallible Man (1965), that evil is freedom by saying »evil’s place of manifesta-tion is apparent only if it is recognized and it is recognized only if it is taken up by deliberate choice« (xxv). This means that evil cannot be manifested as it is unless


325

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

human free will is involved. On the other hand, the flip side of free will is the basis of stepping toward the transcendent being beyond the physical and condi-tional limits of human fallibility.

Ricoeur’s theory implies the significant aspect of sacred music and liturgy. Obviously, sacred music is a symbol that is designed to play a role in human engagement in liturgy and spiritual experience. Music as symbol can give rise to thought about what it is that people are worshipping, and may give opportunity to experience the transcendent being spiritually. Music is such a powerful sym-bol, having both semantic and physical resonance, and influences the human body and emotion, as well as thought and spirit. Both reformers and anti-reform-ers acknowledged the power of music over people through its physicality as well as its rhetorical function, such as Luther’s musicology in the 16th century history discussed earlier.

The benefit of Ricoeur’s theory is allowing us to examine the level of herme-neutic engagement of people with music as symbols. Ricoeur’s hermeneutics is a journey to find the truth and real being by way of suspicion. Finding true being cannot be accomplished instantly without getting through the detour of suspicion, reflection and conflicts according to Ricoeur. In the realm of religion, Ricoeur did not think that people could communicate with God immediately. He called such an ability ’pure reflection’, which humans are not capable of because of their finite nature and fallibility. Only a long winding road of hermeneutic suspicion might lead to finding the true meaning or transcendent being (Ricoeur 1967, 3-25). In this sense, reformist theologies that emphasize the importance of an individual’s direct communication with God through worship and prayer contain a certain degree of danger that can lead to misbelief, or sometimes superstition. Yet, the only instruc-tion that Luther and Calvin gave was worship in faith and prayer from the heart. This order resonates with Ricoeur’s notion of pure reflection, which is not easily achievable for fallible men. Ricoeur’s hermeneutics can guide us to investigate the process of human engagement in worship and the state of self-identity of people while they worship and praise God. In the next section, I will examine a case study of South Korean youth ministry to look into the concrete process of human engage-ment in worship and the state of self-identity in their spiritual experiences, focusing on musical practices.

Youth Ministry in South Korea: A Case Study

South Korean Christianity is wordly known for success of its dissemination and strong fervor. The world’s largest church is in Korea and many world recorded size of mega churches are located in Korea. There are tens of mega churches where over 10,000 people gather for each Sunday service in Korea. These mega churches are located in major cities in Korea and are mostly centered in Seoul. Mega


326

churches have sizable youth memberships and maintain youth services with pro-fessional ministers and music directors, whereas smaller churches have lost youth members and are not able to hold separate youth services.

1. Reality Check: Survey of Youth Ministry in South Korea

A survey on youth services in seven mega churches in Seoul was conducted for this study. The sample of the survey was designed to include 10% of the youth members in the top ten mega churches in Seoul. These churches ran youth services for college students or youth members in their 20s.2 Seven churches agreed to par-ticipate in the study, and another three churches declined to cooperate. Respondents were recruited on a voluntary basis with the assistance of youth ministers from each church, and young participants answered the survey questions on paper provided by the researcher in front of them after the main youth worship service took place on a Sunday afternoon. There were ten questions and one additional comment section on the questionnaire (see the Appendix on pp. 340-41).

Table 1. Top ten mega churches in Seoul3

Church name Congregation (# people)

Youth members3 (# people)

denomination Foundation (year)

survey

Yoido Full Gospel

830,000 3,200 Pentecostal 1958 Yes

Sarang eui 90,000 1,000 Presbyterian 1978 yesKeumran 56,000 --- Methodist 1957 NoMyongsung 50,000 --- Presbyterian 1980 noSomang 40,000 400 Presbyterian 1977 yesOn nuri 40,000 1,000 Presbyterian 1983 yesYoung rak 30,00 600 Presbyterian 1945 YesKwang rim 30,000 800 Methodist 1953 YesHae sung 23,000 --- Presbyterian 1948 NoSaemunan 15,000 500 Presbyterian 1887 Yes

Additionally, the researcher participated in the youth service with youth members and made a record of the service in these seven churches. The songs, sermon and other details of the service were recorded on the particular day that

2 In South Korea, young church members belong to the youth group until they get married. After marriage, they go to the adult group, and singles who are in their mid-30s usually join the adult group as well.

3 This is the number of average participants of youth service.


327

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

the church consented to cooperate with the study. This record was used for textual analysis along with the empirical investigation of this survey.

The total number of surveys gathered was 400. Among them, 315 included completed responses and the rest had at least one unanswered question. Out of the 315 responses, 249 of them were useful for statistical analysis, and the other 66 had double answers or inconsistent responses. From these 249 responses, 45.8% were answered by males and 54.2% were from female respondents. The average age of the participants was 28 and the average church attendance was 19.79 years. They were mostly regular church goers, 86.3% replying that they attended the church service every week.

Most youth members who participated in this survey preferred the youth service to main adult worship. 72.7% of the 249 respondents indicated their preference of youth services. Youth members in only one church, E, preferred the main service (47.7% for youth service vs. 52.3% for main service), whereas all others preferred the youth worship and over 90% of young people preferred the youth service in churches B and F. When asked why they preferred the youth service, the main reason was fellowship with peers (30%), followed by the young sentiments of the service (28%). Those who preferred the adult service responded that they preferred the adult service because the quality of the service was better (42.6%). Satisfaction with the youth service was 4.06 on a scale of 5, with a stand-ard deviation of 0.72. Satisfaction with the adult service was a little higher at 4.18, but the number of respondents was smaller (N=68).

Table 2. Survey responses4

Church ID4

# respon-dents

Youth service

preference

Preferred in the service

Music preference

Wish to improve

A 40 63.6% Music 51.5% CCM 51.5% Prayer/Bible study24.2%

B 80 95.1% Sermon 45.9% CCM 86.9% Prayer 27.9%C 50 60% Sermon 43.3% CCM 73.3% Prayer 36.7%D 50 68.8% Sermon 56.3% CCM 65.6% Prayer 31.3%E 80 47.7% Sermon 65.9% CCM 65.9% Bible study/

prayer 29.5%F 50 90% Sermon 45.0% CCM 75% Bible study/

prayer 30%G 50 79.3% Sermon 55.2% CCM 58.6% Bible study

37.9%

4 This church ID is random, different from the order of churches in the table 1. The church name is closed because these churches do not want to disclose their names or any identification.


328

As for the question about the most preferred content of the service, most respondents selected sermon (49.8%), followed by music (35.3%). Ironically, the least preferred content was also the sermon (13.7%), followed by prayer.5 As for music, the focus of this study, young church members preferred Contemporary Church Music (CCM) (69.9%) to any other type of music. Traditional hymns were preferred by only 15% of the young people, as the second most common answer. As for the reason for the preference of each type of church music, the first choice for all respondents was that the music was moving. However, out of those who preferred CCM, only 36.2% selected this reason, whereas 70% of those who preferred the church choir chose this reason, and among those who selected traditional hymn, 55.3% confirmed that they were moved by the music. The second reason for music preference was the lyrics, which was an equally popular reason for all the preferred types of music (20.1%).

When the youth congregation that participated in this survey was asked what they most wanted to improve in their Christian faith, the most selected answer was to improve their prayer (29.3%), followed by theological knowledge and Bible study (27.3%). Although there were deviations among different churches, their first choice was either prayer or Bible study. This implies a signifi-cant indication to youth ministry about how youth members are oriented toward enhancing their Christian faith for the future.

2. Liturgy of Korean Youth Worship

The researcher made a record of the liturgy served by the youth group in the church on the day when the survey took place. While the researcher only recorded information about one liturgy, the records show a consistant pattern of the youth liturgy because the same form of service tends to be practiced regularly. First, the longest parts of the youth worship in the seven churches were the CCM and sermon. Prayer took the least amount of time and tended to be skipped altogether, along with other conventional rituals of the liturgy.

As shown in Table 3 (p. 329), CCM was the largest part of youth worship in these mega churches. All the church music that they played was CCM, with the exception of Church A, which mixed CCM (23 minutes) with some traditional hymns (18 minutes). All other churches played only CCM with no hymns or other types of church music. All seven churches started their worship with CCM. They spent over 20 minutes singing CCM at the opening of the service. The sermon was also long in the youth services, and ministers mixed their sermons with singing

5 The majority chose announcements and miscellaneous as their least preferred (64.3%), but this answer was ignored because they are not main parts of the liturgy.


329

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

and delivering educational messages useful to young people instead of concen-trating on scriptural messages, which was different from adult services.

Table 3. Length of youth services in minutes6

(unit= minutes)Church Music Sermon prayer others6

A 41 (hymn 18) 24 16 10B 48 35 29 (music+ loud

praying 15)5

C 22 45 4 8 D 32 36 8 15 (play 5)E 49 39 5 14 (graduation

ceremony 10)F 30 50 11 7G 33 47 5 22 (mission video 11)

Second, youth services in these seven churches spent the least time on prayer, with the exception of Church B, which encouraged spiritual ecstasy in praying by incorporating singing, crying out, and occasionally speaking in tongues. Church A, which had a more traditional service singing hymns and practicing liturgical con-ventions, including the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, spent the longest time on prayer compared to the others. Other churches spent five minutes or less on prayer.

Third, the Scripture reading and Bible study were minimal in the youth worship.7 In the regular youth worship, Bible reading and theological learning were minimal.

The current patterns of youth services was criticized by young members of the churches during the survey. In the comment section of the survey, many people wrote their concerns about their lack of biblical knowledge and prayer. Members of church B wrote the most comments compared to other churches. Among 22 comments made by church B members, 8 people urged the expansion of biblical and theological knowledge, and 4 wished to expand prayer time, while 3 people wanted to have more music and 5 people pointed out miscellaneous problems with the service. A 26-year-old female member of church B wrote a long comment saying »the current church life focuses on fellowship with little Bible study….if we don’t know the Bible, we are easily defeated by Satan and our faiths will easily get cold after a short zeal.« Young Christians in seven churches had similar ideas in their comments. Although youth ministries in South Korea empha-

6 Others include announcement, introducing new members, viewing video and other rituals.7 Although some churches organized Bible study in groups after the regular service, most youth

members took part in the regular worship only (70% according to the survey of this study) without attending Bible studies or other activities.


330

size CCM and wordly messages in order to draw the attention of young church members, respondents indicated that they wished to further explore theological knowledge and prayer in order to improve their faith, according to the survey answers of this study.

Music in Youth Worship

As this empirical study shows, music is an important part of youth services in mega churches in Seoul. Particularly, CCM is the central part for music, and the seven churches in this study used only CCM while eliminating most conventional forms of Christian liturgy, such as Scriptural readings and prayer, as well as other types of church music. Moreover, the music used in the youth services in these mega churches had a particular pattern. By making record of the worship practiced on the day of the survey, this study attempts to identify this pattern and conduct a textual analysis of the music using semiotics. Although a limitation of the study is that it only looks at one day of the youth services, a pattern is detected, as the form of the service is consistent for years and same CCMs are repeatedly played over time so that members of the congregation know the songs by heart.

The CCM used in seven mega churches on the days of record included 33 songs. At the opening of the services, these songs were repeatedly sung by the congregation, led by music leadership that consisted of five or more vocalists and instrument players, including drums, keyboards and electric guitars. All CCM, regardless of the genre or mood, had instruments fully accompanying the songs at all times. Considering the size of the youth service hall and that a full band playing, the sound of the music was loud in order to draw the attention of the young people.

Table 4. Structure of CCM Lyrics Music writer # persona Literal form Subject matterKorean 17 One 1 Dialogue 17 Intimacy 17Anglo American 12 Two 17 Message 5 Scripture 5World musician 1 Three 2 narrative 5 Myth 3

Cosmos 2Anonymous 3 multiple 13 Command 6 Praise 6

Table 4 describes the lyrics of 33 CCM songs sung in the youth worship in seven mega churches. Using semiotics, the lyrics were analyzed in their narrative structure. Semiotics is the study of signs for the purpose of examining the meaning of verbal or non-verbal languages. This study particularly refers to narrative theories derived from anthropological theories and post-structural semiotics


331

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

(Levi-Strauss 1974; Greimas 1987; Derrida 1998). Even though poems and lyrics have no overt narrative as novels do, they still contain a narrative structure in their meaning. Table 4 illustrates this narrative structure of lyrics, including characters, subject matter and literary forms of songs.

The writers of the 33 CCM songs consist of an equal number of Korean and international musicians. Korean CCM is heavily influenced by American CCM, so the majority of international CCM songs are written by Anglo-American song writers. Local CCM is also quite successful in South Korea, and roughly half of the 33 CCM songs were written by Korean musicians.

First, as for the persona of the lyrical narratives, Table 4 indicates that major-ity of songs consist of two personas, mostly »I« and »the Lord.« There are 17 songs describing the relationship between the two personas, whereas 13 songs refer to multiple personas. In the table, any word referring to multiple people, such as »we,« »army,« »the public,« »the citizen,« etc., is classified as multiple. Two CCM songs have three personas that refer to stories with Jesus, the devil, and me. Sec-ond, a major form of CCM lyrics is dialogue, mostly between two personas, God and me. Additionally, Table 4 shows that the literal forms and subject matter of the lyrics correspond to each other. The dialogue between two personas, God and me, usually describes an intimate relationship, such as the Lord protecting and raising me from troubles and misery. In the literary form, messages refer to deliv-ering scriptural lessons, which consist of five songs according to the Table 4. An-other five songs describe myths in biblical stories or the natural principle of the cosmos in the narrative form. The second most frequent literary form is the com-mand to praise of God.

Overall, the majority of CCM used in South Korean mega churches empha-sizes one’s personal relationship with God. Lyrics contain a lot of »I« statements, even though Koreans usually do not use »I« much in everyday language.8 There are more descriptions of I than Jesus or Lord in the lyrics of these CCM songs. The lyrics of CCM underline the personal care and protection of God toward »me.« This tendency is stronger in CCM written by Korean musicians. In addition, when the lyrics of international CCM songs are translated into Korean, this tendency of emphasizing intimacy and I-centered statements is intensified.

To illustrate examples, two CCM songs played in mega churches are analyzed. The two pieces of music chosen are the first pieces of music played in the youth services at church B and church E on the day of the survey. The two songs used in these two churches were selected because one is written by a Korean musician and the other is a translation of American CCM. Further, the two songs make a good comparison because churches B and E belong to different denominations

8 In Korean language, the subject, especially »I,« is often skipped. »I« and »my« are usually replaced by »we« and »our.« It is common to say »our mother,« »our husband,« or »our house,« even to strangers.


332

and represent distinct theological positions and social statuses in South Korea. The first CCM played in Church E was Lord You Are the Author of My Life, written by Judy Pruett (1985), while the CCM song that Church B sung at the opening of the youth service was Love of Merciful Lord, written by Kibum Park (2010).

The lyrics of the two songs commonly praise the intimate relationship between God and the individual believer, having two personas in the narrative and the literary form of the dialogue. The Korean song used in church B empha-sizes the presence of God offering comfort and love, and wiping away tears and worries. The subject of the sentence is consistently I, who plays the active role in the relationship. The lyrics show a human-centered view, limiting the role of God to a giver to whom I ask for mercy and joy.

Table 5. Lyrics of two songsLord You Are the Author of My Life in English

Lord You Are the Author of My Life in Korean translation

Love of Merciful Lord

Lord you are the author of my life

You have begun a work in me

You have predestined me To do Your perfect will.

And Lord, You are the Lord of all my days,

You are the Lord of all my nights,

You have chosen me To carry forth Your word.

So Lord, finish in me what You’ve begun,

Guide me by Your mighty hand, Lord:

Let me trust in You.

And Lord, let me seek Your holy face,

May I always walk with You, Lord,

And let Your will be done.

Lord is the lord (owner) of my life

and have begun new work

Lord predestined me to do his will

Lord is the lord of my l--ife and my s--oul

He has chosen me to carry on his Word.

Guide me by your mighty

and achieve your great work

I rely on you

and I will seek your face.

Lord, please be with me.

Accomplish your will.

Love of merciful Lord is better than my life

Comforting hands of the Lord are more precious than my tears

Unchanging presence of the Lord is closer than my worries

Blood of the Lord is deeper than my wound

At last that I live with God, my everlasting wish

That I live in the beauty of the Lord, my everlasting joy.

The song used in church E also appraises the personal relationship between God and me in the literary form of dialogue. However, there is a subtle difference in meaning between the English lyrics and the Korean translation. Table 5 shows that the English version of the song puts an emphasis on God’s work and his


333

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

calling to complete his work. By contrast, the Korean translation changes its meaning by transforming the language structure. The Korean translation leads to using I as the subject of the sentence in the chorus section, whereas the original song keeps God as the subject of the sentence, playing the role of the active agent. In this way, the Korean translation transforms the causal relationship in the sentence. The original lyrics describe my wish to rely on God and to walk with him in order to dedicate myself to his work. On the contrary, there is no connec-tion between God’s accompaniment with me and his accomplishment in the Ko-rean translation, as it has separate sentences with two subjects. It is »I« that asks for his presence and seeks his face, and God will accomplish his own work with no causal relationship between the two sentences. In this way, Korean CCM lyrics elevate the sense of favor and blessing of God for the people instead of people’s dedication to God and his work.

Additionally, the musical structures of the two CCM songs demonstrate the typical CCM employed in Korean churches. Although most Korean churches adopt CCM both in youth and adult services (only in part for the latter), there is not much variety in terms of genre and style. As these two examples illustrate the typical cases of Korean CCM, the genre of CCM in Korea is attributed to the white gospel tradition from the Southern Gospel and to the CCM of the standard pop genre. Other genres, including black gospel, metal, hip hop, alternative rock and world music, are hardly used in Korean churches. The musical style of standard pop CCM is easy listening, having simple melodies and a slow beat with syncopa-tion, like the two songs given above.

The first song, Lord You Are the Author of My Life, has a simple melody with the binary form of A-A-B-B’ (cadence variation). There is no dissonance used in this music, and the variation between A and B is not formally different, having no modulation or rhythmic difference. Melody lines from A to B are different, having more leaps in the B section, but A and B are based on the same tonal harmony. The harmonic structure of this song is essentially tonic prolongation with half cadence in A and the same harmony with authentic cadence. The harmony of A section starts with tonic substitution iii7 followed by typical subdominant and dominant chord in the cadence and the same harmony in the B section except the authentic cadence in the end.9 In this way, the song does not develop much musical varia-tion, but gives a sense of easy flow. In practice, young people at church B sing the song repeatedly five or more times, partly or wholly with pre-reading parts of the lyrics by vocal leaders who frequently pause a few seconds and pray in an agi-tated voice, expressing their spiritual peak, and then sing again spontaneously.

The musical structure of this song moves from a lower and a minor mood to express confession for the first part of the song. This A part uses a middle range

9 The tonic harmony is iii7 – vi7 – ii7 –iii7– vi – V – ii7 – IV7 – V.


334

in the scale and parallel movements in a step motion. Section A illustrates »my confession and faith in God, who accompanies me in everyday life«. The B section develops a climax and finale, using a higher voice in the scale and wider leaps that express praising God’s will and might. There is an octave-wide leap, and the highest scale ‘E’ in the song is used to sing »Lord, finish in me what You’ve begun« at the climax. In contrast, the Korean translation sings, »Guide me by your might« at the climax, which changes the semiotics of the music. The Korean version emphasizes yearning for God’s guidance and blessing for the climax, instead of praising God’s will and his calling that the original lyrics imply.

The Korean song, Love of Merciful Lord, also shows the typical genre and musical structure of CCM employed in Korean churches. This belongs to the pop genre, having even more of a standard and typical harmonic and formal structure than Lord You Are the Author of My Life. The form of the song is binary, A-A’-B. The tonal harmony consists of typical I-V-IV-V (I in A’) in A and identical repetition in A’. The B section also follows the typical tonic, subdominant, dominant and authentic cadence. In this way, the flow of the song is expected and sounds as natural so that people can easily join in the singing. Similarly, it is easy for leaders to pause and repeat regularly to express their feelings and insert impromptu speeches and prayers for a couple of seconds at any point during the song.

Moreover, the harmonic structure of the song Love of Merciful Lord supports the semantics of the human-centered point of view. In this monotonous development, the song has no large difference in scales and leaps, nor modulation and rhythmic variations, and the most noticeable distinction is the harmonic change from sub-dominant that resolves to dominant chord. This song prolonged subdominant chord significantly singing »my life, my tears, my worries and my wound«, which resolved by the »Lord’s mercy« in the dominant chord, V. In the B section, again the subdominant chords are sustained long to express human decision in the part of singing »at last that I live with God, my everlasting wish«. This means that the song highly emphasizes human emotions and decisions rather than divine will and glory. Musical semiotics detects the meaning of the song in that the harmonic struc-ture is designed to emphasize the human grasp of God’s blessing.

Youth Ministry and Theology of Music

The musical structure of CCM employed in Korean churches demonstrates the point of Korean youth ministry. It may show a democratic view in a sense by acclaiming individual freedom and a horizontal relationship between the wor shiper and the worshiped. Music is structured to encourage congregational participation by underscoring easy flows and emotional resonance. CCM played in Korean mega churches ignites the emotional enthusiasm of young people by


335

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

using loud sounds and compassionate narratives. The lyrics of CCM show that God is intimate enough with people to have equal dialogues, using »I« in person and providing personal care. This second person narrative in CCM lyrics followed by the melodramatic sound of the music increases the popularity in youth services and becomes the sole type of music in the youth ministry in Korean mega churches.

The second person narratives of Korean CCM may sound relevant to the Christian faith since reformers in the 16th century emphasized the direct and personal relationship with God alone. These songs express yearning for God’s care and an intimate dialogue with him from the heart, as Luther and Calvin insinuate. Many young people show tears and emotional pinnacles during the service while singing these CCM. It is no doubt that they are moved when they show such emotional reactions. However, applying the hermeneutics of Ricoeur, the second person narrative may mirror people’s own satisfaction and arbitrary images of God without engaging in self-reflection and deep thought, or what Ricoeur calls hermeneutic suspicion. The second person narrative and personal relation to God may resonate with the human-centered view of worship. While reformers pursued humanism in the need of fundamental changes during Renais-sance history, the human-centric view of religion permeates far enough in modern history so that human wishes and emotional satisfactions become the focus of liturgy and liturgical music. It is true that people perceive and get a sense of divinity only through their own images and experiences, hence human identity is an important part of understanding divinity. As God created human beings according to God’s image, or imago Dei, human identity may be the only source of knowing God, who is not visible and apprehensible. Thus, communicating with God in second person narrative can be the ultimate state of Christian faith.

However, what is lacking in musical practices in Korean mega churches is the long path of hermeneutic engagement of people in music as a symbol. Korean CCM illustrates an attempt to jump into an emotional peak quickly with instant and ready-made symbols for culminating emotional resonance. Korean CCM de-signs a particular pattern of melodic and lyrical structure of its songs with loud instrumental performance and agitation of musical leadership to get into this emotional state as quickly as possible. This systemic impasse of CCM does not allow any space for people to think about themselves and the Other, God, who may exist as a real being beyond these symbols à la Ricoeur. In Korean CCM, symbols are typified by the musical and lyrical structure to overthrow human emotions and physical space. These symbols are not ready to be interpreted by engagers nor to anchor deep thought to people, as Ricoeur suggests. With a lack of hermeneutic engagement, young people in Korean mega churches consume the ready-made image of God for emotional satisfaction and a feeling of comfort provided by the musical and lyrical symbols of popular CCM.


336

The hermeneutics of the current practice of CCM illustrate the problem with the contemporary youth ministry, which goes beyond the traditional debates regarding the nature of sacred music and its relation to popular culture or secu-larization. Beyond the centuries’ long controversy on sacred music related to the legitimacy of a certain genre of music, i.e., polyphonic and monophonic or classics and popular music, and the modernist hypocrisy distinction between high culture and low culture, the real issue lies in the meaning of music as a symbol. Contem-porary sacred music turns Christian worship into the consumerism of Christian business. It is no secret that Korean mega churches are big businesses, particu-larly those in the rich areas in Seoul such as Gangnam. Consumerism and capitalist ideology related to contemporary Christianity are frequently addressed in a sense that churches represent a conservative ideology and sentiments of the upper class, without need to mention the corruption of leaders who are often involved in un-lawful conduct with regard to church finances. Korean CCM illustrates another level of consumerism by disclosing the everyday practice of the liturgy partici-pated in by the entire congregation. It is not a temporal case of crimes or miscon-duct by a small number of church leaders, nor are there hidden messages under-lying the values and ideology. Korean CCM demonstrates the everyday practice of consumerism by public participation of all congregations, as musical symbols visibly disclose the internal meaning of CCM. The semiotics of CCM illustrates human-centered worship geared toward emotional self-satisfaction and instru-ments of blessing. The sound system and narrative structure of CCM are designed to consume God through emotional agitation and material blessings.

Interestingly, this critical point of contemporary youth ministry in Korean mega churches has been acknowledged and addressed by young people who participated in this study. In the survey, young people commented on the problems with contemporary youth services that solely focus on singing and fellowship. As for the question of improvements for their faith, the majority of respondents wished to enhance their theological knowledge and time for prayer, which took up little time in youth services in Korean mega churches. The people who wrote freehand comments also expressed strong opinions against the current practice of youth services that focused on attracting and pleasing young members. A 22-year-old female member in church C wrote a comment saying, »For me, the biggest barrier in my Christian faith is the lack of theological knowledge. We don’t know much about God’s love and his sincerity,« and another member in the same church stated, »God wants us to have fellowship but there’s a danger it may not be different from worldly friendship« (female, 21year old). A 32-year-old fe-male who went to church D mentioned »gospel, gospel, and gospel. Nothing is meaningful besides the Bible.« A member (female, 32 old) of church E made a comment that »Instead of attracting people, delivering God’s message in the Bible would be the best worship that would delight God« and another member (male,


337

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

35 old) in church E said that he »wished to have more programs and lectures to learn the Bible and prayer rather than fellowship.«

They ascertained that the services and church life needed to be more God- centered and deliver biblical messages. Although these writers did not represent the general opinion of survey participants, as only a minority (1/5 of respondents) wrote comments, all of them demonstrated critical opinions of the contemporary practice of youth services and the need for change from human-to-divine- centered worship.

This study, on one hand, shows that young people prefer contemporary youth ministry led by CCM to traditional services in Korean churches. More sur-vey participants in this study preferred CCM than any other type of sacred music, and they preferred youth services to the more traditional adult services. On the other hand, respondents disclosed their orientation toward an alternative service by showing their interests in biblical knowledge and prayers, which have been lost or minimized in current services. These comments share the sentiments that youth ministry needs to be improved, even though alternative types have not been consolidated as in emerging worship in the USA. Many youth members in Korean mega churches are aware of the superficiality of youth services and the problem with consumerism embedded in current church music, as this study finds.10 Young Christians search for a new way to know God and to communicate with this second person beyond the ready-made image of God patterned by cur-rent church music in youth services.

REFERENCES

St AUGUSTINE (1996). Teaching Christianity: De Doctrina Christiana. The Works of Saint Augustine 1.11. NY: New City Press.

St AUGUSTINE (2009). Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford University Press.

BLP. (1990). What the Bible Has to Say about CCM: then Scriptural Reasons why the Rock Beat is Even in any Form. Oakbrook: Institute in Basic Life Principles.

10 For the last five years, Korean churches have started to change the names of CCM from »gospel songs« to »praise and worship.« Although it is not an accurate name for the music genre, this changing name reflects church members’ awareness of human emotional music to praise and worship God. This study examines CCM with the label of praise and worship, but finds that the content of the music is intact.


338

BAKER, Paul. (1985). Contemporary Christian Music – Where it Came from, What it is, Where it’s going. Westchester Crossway Books.

BERNSTEIN, Elleanor & Martin CONNELL (1998). Traditions and Transitions. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications.

CORTEN, Andre & Ruth MARSHALL FRATANI (eds.) (2001). Between Babel and Pentecost. Transnational Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America. Bloomington: Indiana Univer-sity Press.

COX, Harvey (1995). Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21th Century. Cambridge: Dacapo Press.

CUSIC, Don (2010). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Santa Barbara: Green-wood.

DERRIDA, Jacques (1998). Of Grammatology. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

DOWLEY, Tim (2011). Christian Music: a Global History. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

EIRE, Carlos (1986). War against the Idols. The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

FRITH, Simon (2010). Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

GARSIDE, Charles (1979). The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music. American Philosophi-cal Society. Vol. 69, No. 4.

GARSIDE, Charles (1979). The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music. Philadelphia: Univer-sity of Pennsylvania Press.

GERSZTYN, Bob (2012). Jesus Rocks the World: the Definitive History of Contemporary Chris-tian Music. Vols. 1 & 2, Oxford: Praeger.

GREIMAS, Julien (1987). On Meaning: Selected Writings of Semiotic Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

HALDANE, Robert (1847). The Epistle to the Romans. London: Banner of Truth Trust.

HEBDIGE, Dick (1991). Subculture: the Meaning of Style. London: Routledge.

HJARVARD, S. (2011). The Mediatisation of Religion: Theorizing Religion, Media and Social Change. Culture and Religion. 12(2), pp. 119-135.


339

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

JEON, Byung Geum (2013). Analytic Report of Korean Christianity. Seoul: URD.

KIM, Hyun-ah (2008). Humanism and Reform of Sacred Music in Early Modern England. Hampshire: Ashgate.

LEAVER, Robin (2007). Luther’s Liturgical Music. Principles and Implications, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co.

LEVI-STRAUSS, Claude (1974). Structural Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.

LINDENBAUM, John (2012). The Pastoral Role of Contemporary Christian Music. Social and Cultural Geography. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 69-88.

LINHART, Terry, Livermore David (2011). Global Youth Ministry. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House.

LITSCH, Berry (2001). New Worship. Michigan: Baker Book.

LULL, Timothy (2005). Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress.

LUTHER, Martin (1965). Luther’s Works, Volume 53: Liturgy and Hymn, ed. by Ulrich S. Leupold, Philadelphia.

MARSHALL, Howard (1978). The First Epistle of John. Michigan: Erdmans.

MERWE, Peter (1989). Origins of Popular Style: the Antecedents of 20-Century Popular Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

MILLER, Steve (1993). The Contemporary Christian Music Debate. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers.

MOBERG, Marcus (2012). Religion in Popular Music or Popular Music as Religion. Popular Music and Society. Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 113-130.

MONSON, Craig (2002).The Council of Trent Revisited. Journal of the American Musicologi-cal Society, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 1-37.

O’MALLEY, John (2013). Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press.

PETTEGREE, Andrew (2005). Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

PIETSCH, H. (1992). On Luther’s Understanding of Music, Lutheran Theological Journal. Vol. XXVI, pp. 160–168.


340

RATCLIFF, Donald & DAVIES, James (1991). Handbook of Youth Ministry. Birmingham: REP Books.

RICOEUR, Paul (1965). Fallible Man: Philosophy of the Will. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company.

RICOEUR, Paul (1967). The Symbolism of Evil. Boston: Beacon Press.

ROMMEN, Timothy (2007). Make Some Noise: Gospel Music and the Ethics of Style in Trinidad. Berkeley: University of California Press.

SCHALK, Carl (1988). Luther on Music. Paradigms of Praise, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

SPINKS, Bryan (2010). Worship Mall: Contemporary Responses to Contemporary Culture. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK).

STOWE, David (2011). No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

TARUSKIN, Richard (2009). Danger of Music and Other Anti-utopian Essays. Berkeley: University of California Press.

WEBER, Robert (1994). Worship Old and New. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House .

APPENDIX

Questionnaire

1. What is your favorite content in worship? A. Music B. Prayer C. Sermon D. Announcement E. Bible reading

2. What interests you the least among the contents of worship? A. Music B. Prayer C. Sermon D. Announcement E. Bible reading

3. What do you concentrate on the most among the contents of worship? A. Music B. Prayer C. Sermon D. Announcement E. Bible reading

4. What is your favorite type of music in worship? A. Hymn B. Contemporary Church Music C. Anthem D. Solo performance. E. Other ( )


341

IRASM 47 (2016) 2: 315-342

5. Why do you like the type of music you chose above for 4? A. It moves my heart B. I enjoy singing (listening) C. I enjoy its ambiance D. I like its melody E. I like the lyrics

6. Do you prefer the youth service to the adult service? A. Yes (Go to question 6-1) B. No (Go to question 7-1)

6-1 Why do you prefer the youth service? A. I enjoy the fellowship B. I like the young sentiments of the service C. There is no generational gap D. I like the ambiance of the youth service. E. Because it is convenient in terms of time, etc.

6-2 How satisfied are you with the youth service? A. Very satisfied B. Satisfied C. Moderate D. Dissatisfied E. Very dissatisfied

7. Why do you prefer the adult service? A. To accompany family members B. I don’t like the ambiance of the youth

service C. To meet diverse people D. The quality of the service is bet-ter E. It is convenient in terms of time, etc. F. Other reasons ( )

8. To which do you devote most of your time in your religious life? A. Attending service B. Fellowship C. Bible study D. Community activities E Volunteering at the Church F. Other ( )

9. What do you think needs to be improved for a Christian life? A. Devoting myself to God B. Reviving the church C. Biblical and theological knowledge D. New form of liturgy E. Time for prayer F. Other ( )

10. Please feel free to write your ideas about youth services. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Age Gender Educational level

Native place Economic status (high middle low)

Length of attending church ( years months)

Frequency of attending the service; Every week, Every other week, Once a month, 7-10 times/year, 3-6 times/year, 1-2times/year


342

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Andrew Chung and Markus Rathey from the Department of Music at Yale University for their support and comments.

Sažetak

Intoniranje u svetom: kultura mladih i suvremena kršćanska glazba

Sakralna glazba oduvijek je tijekom povijesti bila izvor kontroverzi jer predstavlja inte-gralni dio liturgije, a povijest glazbe je iz nje izrasla. Suvremena kršćanska glazba dostigla je vrhunac kontroverzije kad se njezino potrošačko područje proširilo globalno i međukon-fesionalno. Ovaj je članak nastao na temelju Ricoeurove fenomenologije religije i nastoji ispitati suvremenu praksu u liturgiji i sakralnoj glazbi u svjetlu nasljeđa povijesne kontrover-ze i kulturne sredine u prihvaćanju popularne kulture u mladenačkoj službi božjoj. Teologija glazbe, o kojoj su raspravljali u 16. stoljeću Luther, Zwingli i Calvin, osobito je ko risna za konzultiranje pri suvremenom prilagođavanju na popularnu kulturu u crkvi. Štoviše, huma-nizam usađen u liturgijsku reformaciju u razdoblju renesanse otvara filozofijsko pitanje čovjekova identiteta pred licem božanskoga, o čemu se raspravljalo tijekom moderne i postmoderne povijesti sve do danas.

Kako bi se pažljivo ispitao konkretni proces mladenačke kulture u kršćanskoj zajedni-ci, provedeno je kao studija slučaja empirijsko istraživanje mladenačke službe božje u mega crkvama Južne Koreje. Korejsko je slučaj važan jer Koreja predstavlja jednu od najjačih kršćanskih populacija u svijetu, dok je s druge strane izložena izazovima kao što je primjerice pad broja mladih vjernika i ogromni generacijski jaz u njezinim crkvenim kongregacijama. Razmatranje mladenačkih kongregacija u sedam mega crkava u Seulu i tekstualna analiza mladenačke službe božje s težištem na glazbu pruža informacije koje povezuju filozofske rasprave o teologiji glazbe s pitanjem identiteta uključenog u hermene-utiku glazbene prakse u crkvama. Semiotički pristup glazbenoj analizi prihvaćen je kao korisno sredstvo za povezivanje ovih empirijskih podataka s njihovim filozofijskim interpre-tacijama i za ispitivanje glazbene strukture i narativne strukture tekstova.

Copyright of International Review of the Aesthetics & Sociology of Music is the property ofCroatian Musicological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sitesor posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However,users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Documents

BluefieldComp / Youth Culture in Contemporary Christian Music