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What Is a Spiritual – Yesterday and Today?
Forum February 26, 12 pm will be offered in the nave and online. The Zoom link is a continuation of the Eucharistic service and provided here for ease of access.
Come to a special talk on the role of the Spiritual in slave life and in our worship today. Negro Spirituals are a sacred voice within American spiritual, music, and moral history. They are songs of hope and freedom born of the suffering of enslavement and the hope of God’s deliverance. Their use by a heavily White church also raises questions of appropriation and reparation for many people.
We will learn about Spirituals and discuss why it is important that we understand them as American songs for all people. There will be time for Q &A. Read more about Dr. Guenther and her work here.
Dr. Eileen Guenther is Professor of Church Music at Wesley Theological Seminary, where she teaches music and worship courses and serves as Director of Chapel Music. She is the author of In Their Own Words: Slave Life and the Power of Spirituals. Read reviews of Dr. Guenther’s ground-breaking work here and here. Email Rev. Diana Gustafson with questions.
Zoom Meeting ID: 935 9524 6192
Passcode: 596538
