Christian Discourses and Cultural Change: The Greenbelt Art and Performance Festival as an Alternative Community for Green and Liberal Christians

The article examines the Greenbelt festival in the UK, looking at how Green and Liberal Christians experiment with sacred spaces during worship occasions, talks and workshops. I show that Greenbelt represents a syncretic encounter between the modern festival culture on one hand and Christian communi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Implicit religion
Main Author: Nita, Maria ca. 20./21. Jahrhundert (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox [2018]
In: Implicit religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Greenbelt Festival / Great Britain / Cultural change / Church / Environmental ethics / Environmental protection
RelBib Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
AZ New religious movements
KBF British Isles
Further subjects:B modern art
B Social Change
B Liberal Christians
B Christianity and politics
B Green Christians
B Sacred Space
B Greenbelt Festival
B modern Christian discourses
B Christianity
B Church of England
B Festivals
B Romanticism
B RELIGIOUS leadership
B audience involvement
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The article examines the Greenbelt festival in the UK, looking at how Green and Liberal Christians experiment with sacred spaces during worship occasions, talks and workshops. I show that Greenbelt represents a syncretic encounter between the modern festival culture on one hand and Christian community experiments and aspirations on the other, some that can be traced back to the nineteenth century Romantic Movement. I posit that the festival represents a trans-denominational community of choice for a progressive faction within the main Christian congregations in Britain, and in particular the Anglican Church. Furthermore I discuss ways in which participants experiment with cultural change, adopting a circle model of spatial organisation or via artistic expression. I observe relations between speakers and audiences, showing that a discourse of "openness and vulnerability" represents a critique of the "rigidity" of the Church, whilst a discourse of "secret meanings and misunderstandings" functions as a mechanism for revision inside the tradition. I postulate that the multiple outdoor spaces and fields of the modern art and performance festival can better accommodate the wider contemporary "believing and belonging" spectrum.
ISSN:1743-1697
Contains:Enthalten in: Implicit religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/imre.37354