“He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes
Singing is an essential element in every religion. In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, theologians expect congregational singing to have several clear-cut effects which can be translated into psychological hypotheses. This study is the first to approach these quantitatively. N = 1603 Cathol...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570189/full |
| _version_ | 1831834406896009216 |
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| author | Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann Sven Boenneke Thijs Vroegh Klaus Peter Dannecker Klaus Peter Dannecker |
| author_facet | Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann Sven Boenneke Thijs Vroegh Klaus Peter Dannecker Klaus Peter Dannecker |
| author_sort | Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Singing is an essential element in every religion. In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, theologians expect congregational singing to have several clear-cut effects which can be translated into psychological hypotheses. This study is the first to approach these quantitatively. N = 1603 Catholics from German-speaking countries answered an exhaustive questionnaire that asked whether and to what degree these putative effects were actually experienced by churchgoers. We found that people do, to a large degree, associate feelings of community and spiritual experiences with congregational singing. We also identified relevant intraindividual factors that contribute to the frequency of these experiences, most importantly, religious and musical attitudes. These results are discussed in the light of psychological literature on the effects of group singing on social bonding and wellbeing, but also in the context of theological, ethnomusicological, and sociological research on singing, songs, and spiritual and social experiences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:13:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-21a18f6f3ac9483293b130309ccde6b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:13:08Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-21a18f6f3ac9483293b130309ccde6b12022-12-21T18:00:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-09-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.570189570189“He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical AttitudesMelanie Wald-Fuhrmann0Sven Boenneke1Thijs Vroegh2Klaus Peter Dannecker3Klaus Peter Dannecker4Department of Music, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, GermanyDepartment of Music, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, GermanyDepartment of Music, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, GermanyTheological Faculty, Trier, GermanyGerman Liturgical Institute, Trier, GermanySinging is an essential element in every religion. In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, theologians expect congregational singing to have several clear-cut effects which can be translated into psychological hypotheses. This study is the first to approach these quantitatively. N = 1603 Catholics from German-speaking countries answered an exhaustive questionnaire that asked whether and to what degree these putative effects were actually experienced by churchgoers. We found that people do, to a large degree, associate feelings of community and spiritual experiences with congregational singing. We also identified relevant intraindividual factors that contribute to the frequency of these experiences, most importantly, religious and musical attitudes. These results are discussed in the light of psychological literature on the effects of group singing on social bonding and wellbeing, but also in the context of theological, ethnomusicological, and sociological research on singing, songs, and spiritual and social experiences.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570189/fullcommunal singinggroup singingsocial bondingmusic and spiritualityCatholic worshipattitudes and behavior |
| spellingShingle | Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann Sven Boenneke Thijs Vroegh Klaus Peter Dannecker Klaus Peter Dannecker “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes Frontiers in Psychology communal singing group singing social bonding music and spirituality Catholic worship attitudes and behavior |
| title | “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes |
| title_full | “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes |
| title_fullStr | “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes |
| title_full_unstemmed | “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes |
| title_short | “He Who Sings, Prays Twice”? Singing in Roman Catholic Mass Leads to Spiritual and Social Experiences That Are Predicted by Religious and Musical Attitudes |
| title_sort | he who sings prays twice singing in roman catholic mass leads to spiritual and social experiences that are predicted by religious and musical attitudes |
| topic | communal singing group singing social bonding music and spirituality Catholic worship attitudes and behavior |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570189/full |
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