Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Inoue, Hatoko

Titel

Hymn singing as a catalyst for spiritual revitalization among Japanese churches: Strengthening the heart to praise and proclaim

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Over the past several decades, the stagnation and lifelessness of Japanese Christians’ faith has been reflected in congregational hymn singing. The majority of hymnbooks contain hymns that have been written in the US and England, and people are singing the translated texts without fully understanding the meanings behind the texts. The Japanese language necessitates more syllables to say one word than the English language, and half of the meaning often gets lost in translation (Karatsu 33; Tenda 53; Toda and Nagafuji 115-16; Yokosaka 39-41). The translated hymn texts have hardly been contextualized or inculturated, and congregations are left with ambiguity and uncertainty (Kraft et al. 17). The purpose of the research was to evaluate the cognitive and affective changes of the workshop participants of the Arai Christ Church in Tokyo, Japan, as a result of six Singing God’s Story workshops. The study was conducted to help Japanese Christians rediscover the significance of messages spoken through hymns that are often lost in translation. The triangulated, explanatory, mixed-method design utilized a series of pre- and postintervention questionnaires, a final questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a series of researcher field notes. The findings suggest that the participants came to have greater cognitive and affective response towards the hymns and the messages spoken through the hymns as a result of the six workshops. Participants expressed changes in their understanding of the hymn lyrics that unraveled the disparities or the gaps between the original texts (genshi), the translated texts (yakushi), and the Japanese translation of the original texts in full (wayaku). The participants came to have a new and deeper understanding of the lyrics, including the theological terms and the bungo (classical Japanese) words and phrases. The increased understanding of the lyrics enriched their understanding of the biblical messages, theologies, and spiritualty behind the hymns. In addition, the increase in the knowledge prompted them to have a desire to share the knowledge with others or to have growing concern for others who may not understand the meaning of the lyrics. Participants also expressed changes in their affective response as a result of the study of the lyrics and the stories behind the hymns, especially in relation to the hymn writers’ sufferings. The participants came to have a much greater affect toward the hymns through the wayaku that provided the full translation of the original texts in Japanese and also through the study of the bungo words and phrases. The study of the hymn writers’ sufferings and crises deepened their affect towards the hymns.