Genemuider bovenstem is a particular style of psalm singing, originating from the town of Genemui... more Genemuider bovenstem is a particular style of psalm singing, originating from the town of Genemuiden in the Netherlands, in which a higher voice is added to the Genevan melody of the psalms. It has roots in liturgical contexts, and has been designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage. This article discusses the construction of singing communities in Genemuider bovenstem psalm singing as performed both in the Sunday worship practices of strictly Reformed church communities, and in collective regional singing events on weekdays that receive financial and practical support from the Dutch government. We present the results of empirical research in Genemuiden, demonstrating the existence of a mutually reinforcing overlap between church communities and the publics who attend psalm-singing events. Our work serves to further nuance extant theories that suggest that the eventization and heritagization of religious practices lead to a diminution in the status of church communities and of their...
This article discusses the role of biographical memory in three contemporary ritual-musical appro... more This article discusses the role of biographical memory in three contemporary ritual-musical appropriations of the psalms in Dutch and Flemish contexts. We observe that, in performances of psalms, participants (intend to) either forget or recall different biographical memories. Nostalgic narratives of religious, cultural and individual change and continuity inform both the way that they interpret their experiences of these psalm performances, and their motivations for attempting to forget or recall particular memories related to the psalms. By using the notion of sacrality — that which is set apart, non-ordinary — we show that particular non-negotiable desires and non-ordinary experiences recur multiple times in these nostalgic narratives. Analysis of these desires and experiences leads us to conclude that contemplative experiences are desired by many, but experienced by only a few. We suggest the combination of Aleida Assmann’s theory of forgetting and remembering with the notions o...
In the Netherlands, traditional churches and religious institutions are losing ground, as is the ... more In the Netherlands, traditional churches and religious institutions are losing ground, as is the case in the rest of western Europe. Religion changes and traditional religious forms migrate to other realms, sometimes to return to ecclesial contexts again. In this article, we present a research project on ritual-musical appropriations of psalms in contemporary Dutch culture. The concept of ritual-musical appropriations implies this is a social, and sometimes collective, process of meaning-making, which raises questions relating to formations of community, identity, and the power relations which structure and are structured by this very process.
This article discusses the appropriation of psalms in contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture thro... more This article discusses the appropriation of psalms in contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture through their performances in ‘extra-ecclesial’ settings and the ways in which aesthetics and embodied experiences play a role in this appropriation. Drawing on postsecular theory, we describe how both religious and secular dimensions are manifest in the performance of psalms on the level of aesthetics. Our contribution is a detailed analysis of empirical research data regarding different sensory perceptions (bodily, auditory, visual, synaesthetic), which we have studied both in isolation and interrelation. We show that religious and secular dimensions become intertwined in the temporally and spatially organized stimulation of different senses. A balancing act takes place between synaesthetic immersion in a collective ritual, and a more distanced, unisensory involvement to maintain individual authenticity. In this balance, an immersive ritual experience can become fertile soil for interactio...
Liturgy as art is one of the various particular relationships between liturgy and the arts. This ... more Liturgy as art is one of the various particular relationships between liturgy and the arts. This article engages with “liturgy as public art” and addresses the question “how can urban liturgies be understood as public art in secularizing societies?” It presents three examples of contemporary “urban liturgies,” against the backdrop of the transfer and transformation of Christian liturgical forms and repertories from the church to the wider culture in post-Christian, post-secular Western societies. It then offers an anthropological interpretation of such liturgies, using the notion of play, but highlighting an aspect of play that has, so far, remained underexposed in liturgical studies. Afterwards, it unpacks how this anthropological interpretation is anchored in a Lutheran theological view of God as a playful God ( deus ludens), which also gives theology a critical position vis-à-vis liturgical practices. The last section answers the central question by concluding that urban liturgies are alternative occasions that offer a playfield emphatically addressing and challenging people’s hermeneutic capacity to meaningfully deal with the sacred, thus inviting them into God's play. Offering playfields is how these urban liturgies serve the common good: they open up the possibility for people to be drawn into God's play. These liturgies are not just rituals—they are a public art: the art of playing.
Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zui... more Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zuidoost, including serving free meals for everyone who wanted them. When this was no longer possible because of the Covid-19 measures, the international church, Treasures International Ministries, and Diaconie Evangelisch Lutherse Gemeente Amsterdam decided to work together and start delivering meals to people’s houses. Some of these recipients were enlisted through the network of one of the churches, but most were enlisted by care organizations. As one, relatively small project, operating alongside other aid initiatives, the meals project soon received many more enlistments than anticipated, and the Covid-19 crisis lasted longer than expected, which raised questions regarding the underlying needs and how to proceed in the long term. Together with the Protestant Theological University, they decided to research the question: How does the meals project of Treasures and Lutherse Diaconie expose structural needs in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and how can these needs be addressed in a sustainable manner?
Genemuider bovenstem is a particular style of psalm singing, originating from the town of Genemui... more Genemuider bovenstem is a particular style of psalm singing, originating from the town of Genemuiden in the Netherlands, in which a higher voice is added to the Genevan melody of the psalms. It has roots in liturgical contexts, and has been designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage. This article discusses the construction of singing communities in Genemuider bovenstem psalm singing as performed both in the Sunday worship practices of strictly Reformed church communities, and in collective regional singing events on weekdays that receive financial and practical support from the Dutch government. We present the results of empirical research in Genemuiden, demonstrating the existence of a mutually reinforcing overlap between church communities and the publics who attend psalm-singing events. Our work serves to further nuance extant theories that suggest that the eventization and heritagization of religious practices lead to a diminution in the status of church communities and of their...
This article discusses the role of biographical memory in three contemporary ritual-musical appro... more This article discusses the role of biographical memory in three contemporary ritual-musical appropriations of the psalms in Dutch and Flemish contexts. We observe that, in performances of psalms, participants (intend to) either forget or recall different biographical memories. Nostalgic narratives of religious, cultural and individual change and continuity inform both the way that they interpret their experiences of these psalm performances, and their motivations for attempting to forget or recall particular memories related to the psalms. By using the notion of sacrality — that which is set apart, non-ordinary — we show that particular non-negotiable desires and non-ordinary experiences recur multiple times in these nostalgic narratives. Analysis of these desires and experiences leads us to conclude that contemplative experiences are desired by many, but experienced by only a few. We suggest the combination of Aleida Assmann’s theory of forgetting and remembering with the notions o...
In the Netherlands, traditional churches and religious institutions are losing ground, as is the ... more In the Netherlands, traditional churches and religious institutions are losing ground, as is the case in the rest of western Europe. Religion changes and traditional religious forms migrate to other realms, sometimes to return to ecclesial contexts again. In this article, we present a research project on ritual-musical appropriations of psalms in contemporary Dutch culture. The concept of ritual-musical appropriations implies this is a social, and sometimes collective, process of meaning-making, which raises questions relating to formations of community, identity, and the power relations which structure and are structured by this very process.
This article discusses the appropriation of psalms in contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture thro... more This article discusses the appropriation of psalms in contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture through their performances in ‘extra-ecclesial’ settings and the ways in which aesthetics and embodied experiences play a role in this appropriation. Drawing on postsecular theory, we describe how both religious and secular dimensions are manifest in the performance of psalms on the level of aesthetics. Our contribution is a detailed analysis of empirical research data regarding different sensory perceptions (bodily, auditory, visual, synaesthetic), which we have studied both in isolation and interrelation. We show that religious and secular dimensions become intertwined in the temporally and spatially organized stimulation of different senses. A balancing act takes place between synaesthetic immersion in a collective ritual, and a more distanced, unisensory involvement to maintain individual authenticity. In this balance, an immersive ritual experience can become fertile soil for interactio...
Liturgy as art is one of the various particular relationships between liturgy and the arts. This ... more Liturgy as art is one of the various particular relationships between liturgy and the arts. This article engages with “liturgy as public art” and addresses the question “how can urban liturgies be understood as public art in secularizing societies?” It presents three examples of contemporary “urban liturgies,” against the backdrop of the transfer and transformation of Christian liturgical forms and repertories from the church to the wider culture in post-Christian, post-secular Western societies. It then offers an anthropological interpretation of such liturgies, using the notion of play, but highlighting an aspect of play that has, so far, remained underexposed in liturgical studies. Afterwards, it unpacks how this anthropological interpretation is anchored in a Lutheran theological view of God as a playful God ( deus ludens), which also gives theology a critical position vis-à-vis liturgical practices. The last section answers the central question by concluding that urban liturgies are alternative occasions that offer a playfield emphatically addressing and challenging people’s hermeneutic capacity to meaningfully deal with the sacred, thus inviting them into God's play. Offering playfields is how these urban liturgies serve the common good: they open up the possibility for people to be drawn into God's play. These liturgies are not just rituals—they are a public art: the art of playing.
Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zui... more Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zuidoost, including serving free meals for everyone who wanted them. When this was no longer possible because of the Covid-19 measures, the international church, Treasures International Ministries, and Diaconie Evangelisch Lutherse Gemeente Amsterdam decided to work together and start delivering meals to people’s houses. Some of these recipients were enlisted through the network of one of the churches, but most were enlisted by care organizations. As one, relatively small project, operating alongside other aid initiatives, the meals project soon received many more enlistments than anticipated, and the Covid-19 crisis lasted longer than expected, which raised questions regarding the underlying needs and how to proceed in the long term. Together with the Protestant Theological University, they decided to research the question: How does the meals project of Treasures and Lutherse Diaconie expose structural needs in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and how can these needs be addressed in a sustainable manner?
One of the big challenges for the study of 21st century practices of Christian music is to accoun... more One of the big challenges for the study of 21st century practices of Christian music is to account for the ‘liquid church’ (Ward 2002) and other fluid forms of gathering around Christian music. The thesis of this contribution is that the study of Christian congregational music should take account of sacro-soundscapes also in terms of its understanding of ‘congregation’. Aiming to develop a concept that serves studies at the intersection of ecclesiology and ethnography in the context of congregational music studies, I ask this question: what theoretical concept can be employed to better understand gatherings around Christian music in and outside church in late-modern culture? Taking the Sing Along Matthäuspassion as an example, this contribution discusses the question how to understand ‘congregation’ in liquid times.
The Winter School addresses questions such as:
Is becoming a vegetarian a conversion?
Is a BBQ a... more The Winter School addresses questions such as:
Is becoming a vegetarian a conversion? Is a BBQ a kind of male outdoor religion? Why do we find things delicious or disgusting?
Lecture highlights includ:
"The Gift of Food. Manna and Meaning in the Theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet" Prof. dr. Peter-Ben Smit, UniBern "A Sense of Presence. Everyday Life, Food, and Religion as Critical Theology" Em. Prof. dr. Maaike de Haardt, RUN "Halal Dining in Rotterdam: Competing Claims of Cosmopolitanism" Dr. Margreet van Es, UU "Hunger for Food. A Literary Approach" Joyce Rondaij, MA, PThU "Christian and Jewish Food and Eating in a Roman World" Jonathan Pater, MA, TST
Playing On: Re-staging the Passion after the Death of God, 2020
In what is often considered ‘a society “after God”’, millions of Dutch participate annually in a ... more In what is often considered ‘a society “after God”’, millions of Dutch participate annually in a public multi-media performance of Christ's Passion. What to make of this paradox? In Playing On: Re-staging the Passion after the Death of God, Mirella Klomp offers a theological analysis of this performance and those involved in it. Working in an interdisciplinary fashion and utilizing creative interludes, she demonstrates how precisely this production of Jesus' last hours carves out a new and unexpected space for God in a (post-)secular culture. Klomp argues compellingly that understanding God's presence in the Western world requires looking beyond the church and at the public domain; that is the future of practical theology. She lays out this agenda for practical theology by showing how the Dutch playfully rediscover Christian tradition, and – perhaps – even God.
This book was published by Brill in the series Theology in Practice (no.10)
Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zui... more Before the Covid-19 crisis, churches organized many activities in De Nieuwe Stad in Amsterdam Zuidoost, including serving free meals for everyone who wanted them. When this was no longer possible because of the Covid-19 measures, the international church, Treasures International Ministries, and Diaconie Evangelisch Lutherse Gemeente Amsterdam decided to work together and start delivering meals to people’s houses. Some of these recipients were enlisted through the network of one of the churches, but most were enlisted by care organizations. As one, relatively small project, operating alongside other aid initiatives, the meals project soon received many more enlistments than anticipated, and the Covid-19 crisis lasted longer than expected, which raised questions regarding the underlying needs and how to proceed in the long term. Together with the Protestant Theological University, they decided to research the question:
How does the meals project of Treasures and Lutherse Diaconie expose structural needs in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and how can these needs be addressed in a sustainable manner?
Op Witte Donderdag 18 april 2019 werd in Dordrecht voor de negende keerThe Passion (TP) uitgevoer... more Op Witte Donderdag 18 april 2019 werd in Dordrecht voor de negende keerThe Passion (TP) uitgevoerd. Het wordt jaarlijks georganiseerd door eentv-producent, christelijke omroepen, verschillende kerken en anderen. Een groep bekende Nederlanders speelt het passieverhaal met vijf hoofdrollen(Maria, Jezus, Pilatus, Petrus, Judas) en een aantal bijrollen op een populairemanier met onder andere een tiental hedendaagse Nederlandstalige hits. Deverteller neemt het aanwezige publiek en de kijker thuis mee in het verhaal.Bijna duizend mensen lopen mee in de processie, waarbij een groot lichtgevend kruis naar het podium wordt gebracht. Elk jaar staat een ander thema centraal in TP; in 2019 was dat ‘je bent niet alleen’. De dialogen tussen de acteurs bestaan voor het overgrote deel uit letterlijke citaten uit de Bijbel in Gewone Taal. De citaten komen uit alle vier evangeliën. Omdat er zo één verhaal verteld wordt op basis van de vier evangeliën is er in TP sprake van een evangeliënharmonie; dat is van belang omdat er bij een harmonisatie altijd interpretatieve keuzes gemaakt worden – lang niet ieder evangelie duidt ieder aspect van ‘het’ passieverhaal op dezelfde wijze!
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Papers by Mirella Klomp
Is becoming a vegetarian a conversion?
Is a BBQ a kind of male outdoor religion?
Why do we find things delicious or disgusting?
Lecture highlights includ:
"The Gift of Food. Manna and Meaning in the Theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet"
Prof. dr. Peter-Ben Smit, UniBern
"A Sense of Presence. Everyday Life, Food, and Religion as Critical Theology"
Em. Prof. dr. Maaike de Haardt, RUN
"Halal Dining in Rotterdam: Competing Claims of Cosmopolitanism"
Dr. Margreet van Es, UU
"Hunger for Food. A Literary Approach"
Joyce Rondaij, MA, PThU
"Christian and Jewish Food and Eating in a Roman World"
Jonathan Pater, MA, TST
This book was published by Brill in the series Theology in Practice (no.10)
How does the meals project of Treasures and Lutherse Diaconie expose structural needs in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and how can these needs be addressed in a sustainable manner?
Een groep bekende Nederlanders speelt het passieverhaal met vijf hoofdrollen(Maria, Jezus, Pilatus, Petrus, Judas) en een aantal bijrollen op een populairemanier met onder andere een tiental hedendaagse Nederlandstalige hits. Deverteller neemt het aanwezige publiek en de kijker thuis mee in het verhaal.Bijna duizend mensen lopen mee in de processie, waarbij een groot lichtgevend kruis naar het podium wordt gebracht. Elk jaar staat een ander thema centraal in TP; in 2019 was dat
‘je bent niet alleen’. De dialogen tussen de acteurs bestaan voor het overgrote deel uit letterlijke citaten uit de Bijbel in Gewone Taal. De citaten komen uit alle vier evangeliën. Omdat er zo één verhaal verteld wordt op basis van de vier evangeliën is er in TP sprake van een evangeliënharmonie; dat is van belang omdat er bij een harmonisatie altijd interpretatieve keuzes gemaakt worden – lang niet ieder evangelie
duidt ieder aspect van ‘het’ passieverhaal op dezelfde wijze!