From the ancient to the early modern period, music was a highly theological and religious concern. Current departmental segment in the name of specialism, however, often hinders our understanding of the theological and religious dimension of music and, more fundamentally, the integral relation of music and religion, both of which are a universal part of culture and civilisation. The moral and social implications of religious education in relation to music in early modern Europe are rather distanced from their counterpart in the modern world. This book seeks to offer the first comprehensive set of studies to examine the nexus of music and religious education in early modern Europe. It attempts to elucidate the context and manner in which music was used by the reformers, clergy and educators of the day, thereby identifying the historical, cultural and theological foundations of early modern European musical phenomena and their significance for education, aesthetics, ethics and liturgy today.
The principal aim of this volume is three-fold: first, to reassess the relevance of music to religious education within the broader intellectual, cultural and social context of early modern Europe; secondly, to investigate the pedagogical, religious and theological frameworks in which new musical practices and theories were promoted to edify the clergy as well as the laity; and finally, to illustrate the ways in which music served as a means of religious teaching and learning, by examining some musical practices and theories that were at the core of Christian education in the time of Renaissance humanism and the Reformation. This volume intends to provide a foundation and impetus for future research on the theme in question, and it does not cover all aspects of proposing new directions for study. As I elaborate in the Introduction to the volume, however, it will open up a new, critical discourse on the nexus of music, education and religion in early modern Europe, bringing nine experts on early modern studies together to present original research on the theme in question.
Many colleagues have supported this project one way or another. First and foremost, my sincere thanks go to Prof. Gioia Filocamo (Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali of Terni, University of Parma and University of Bologna), for her contribution to this project from the very outset, which began as a conference panel embarking on an international and interdisciplinary research project, Reformation Musical History and Theology (rmht), supported by the Theologische Universiteit Kampen (2017–2020) and by the Europäische Melanchthon-Akademie Bretten (2018–). I am also grateful to Mr. Jan de
Hyun-Ah Kim