Anthropology, Theology, and the Simplicity of Benedict XVI's Chant

Zon, Bennett

doi:10.1353/log.2016.0004

Anthropology, Theology, and the Simplicity of Benedict XVI's Chant

Zon, Bennett

Authors

Professor Bennett Zon bennett.zon@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

FOR A LATE-VICTORIAN THEOLOGIAN like John Harrington Edwards music is by its very nature sacred. Writing in God and Music (1903) he claims that “music … speaks of God, from God, for God, and to God.” Other Victorians considered music to be neither sacred nor secular. For them music existed only to serve the basic human need of expression. Evolutionist Herbert Spencer epitomizes this materialist view when he suggests that the function of music lies entirely within the human mind, to help develop its “language of the emotions.” Chant was often caught in this ideological crossfire. For anthropological thinkers like Spencer chant was primitive and utilitarian; for theologians like Harrington it was developed and spiritual. For both of them, however, chant was also “simple.” For theologians chant encapsulated divine simplicity; for anthropologists, human simplicity.

Citation

Zon, B. (2016). Anthropology, Theology, and the Simplicity of Benedict XVI's Chant. Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 19(1), 15-40. https://doi.org/10.1353/log.2016.0004

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Apr 26, 2016
Online Publication Date	Dec 1, 2016
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2016
Deposit Date	Apr 26, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Apr 26, 2016
Journal	Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture
Print ISSN	1091-6687
Electronic ISSN	1533-791X
Publisher	Philosophy Documentation Center
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	19
Issue	1
Pages	15-40
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1353/log.2016.0004