Sentiment en die lied van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk: 'n inhoudsanalitiese perspektief

[摘要] English: This study investigates viewpoints over the last few decades regarding the hymn of the Dutch Reformed Church by way of a document analysis. Primarily the aim is to determine the most important needs concerning the churchhymn in order for these to be reflected on within the context of the reformed church-song ideal.A method had to be considered which could analise such an emotionally loaded subject objectively and scientifically. In this regard the technique of content analysis is ideally suited, since the latter offers the advantages of a structured approach and objectivity characteristic of quantitative research methods, while, at the same time, involving a certain extent of qualitative thought. As a prefix to the document analysis, Chapters 2 and 3 investigate the international position of the church-hymn and the historical development of the Dutch Reformed hymn respectively. From this it is clear that, within the reformed tradition, emphasis has been primarily on the proclaiming function of the church-hymn. In this regard, the urge for renewal and the striving towards more relevancy of secular culture in the church, presents real problems. Concerning the local situation, it is evident that historically, there has always been conflict around the church-hymn within the DRC. Not only was there resistance from the beginning against the official churchhymn, but several church members specifically long for a simpler experience-orientated spiritual song. The data-analysis in Chapter 4 indicates that the given tendency definitely applies regarding the polemics under investigation. The duality within the church-singing has to do particularly with two clashing types of devoutness inside the DRC. The polemic shows that those against the official church-hymn are particularly burdened by the unsingability of the melodies, as well as the fact that these hymns are foreign to the 20th-century person. An analysis of those involved in the polemics brings to light that, during all the eras under investigation, there is a notable lack of involvement from experts in the field of hymnology. Also evident is the largely subjective comments regarding the chuch-hymn which, in the majority of cases, rely on sentiment rather than expertise. As for the most important recommendations resulting from the study, it is proposed that any future decision-making on the church-hymn should take into account the already referred to dualism regarding devoutness types. From this, it further follows that the tradition of more than one hymnal should be abandoned and that consideration should be given to a single comprehensive hymnal. It is further recommended that decision-making processes should be preceded by scientific investigations and that musicaltechnical as well as stylistic issues be handled by experts.It is however especially the last recommendation that concerns itself with retaining the true reformed nature of the DRC, which constitutes the recommendation that the thesibili ty of an ecclesiastical identification withpresent-day secular culture should be seriously contemplated.

[发布机构] University of the Free State