Topic: Theology - Evangelicals
Pentecostals and Fundamentalists were not the same people. Indeed, in the aftermath of the trial of John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee pubic school, [1] the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association condemned the "‘tongues movement,’ and the present wave of fanatical and unscriptural healing which is sweeping the country today." [2]
The two movements were rooted in divergent religious traditions that responded differently to changes in intellectual methods in the nineteenth century. Pentecostals were applying scientific criteria when they sought proof of salvation in resurrecting practices of the original church of the apostles. [3] Fundamentalists, who were devoted to sermons that explicated the word, were dismayed when the application of scientific methods to the original texts of the Bible produced interpretations that did not match their beliefs. [4]
The groups remained isolated from one another until World War II. Then, the Federal Council of Churches persuaded the two major radio networks "not to sell time to religious broadcasters, but to allot free time to ‘recognized’ faith communities" like its Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and northern Baptist members. [5]
Harold Ockenga and Elwin Wright organized an opposing National Association of Evangelicals in 1943. Ockenga focused on beliefs the groups shared, rather than points of doctrine that separated them, and invited Pentecostal groups to join. The defining point of faith was their belief the Bible was "the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God." [6]
The 1945 NAE convention limited its role to facilitating shared goals, rather than arbitrating doctrinal disagreements. It decided the organization would not sponsor crusades, but its regional offices could support individual efforts. The group’s historian noted, the result was "those who had been looking to the NAE for a more direct role in evangelism began to look elsewhere to parachurch agencies such as Youth for Christ and its promising first evangelist, Billy Graham." Graham became the de facto spokesman for this coalition called evangelicals. [7]
Youth for Christ began with a 1944 Chicago rally held by Torrey Johnson. [8] It promoted a view that being a Christian was fun, [9] and used popular music to attract potential adolescent converts. When traditionalists complained, Johnson responded, the rallies were not church services. [10] Editors of the first songbook "reminded users of the songbook that ‘the components of any religious experience are heart and mind’ and that ‘both are needed’." [11]
Ralph Carmichael became its most important muse when he staged productions [12] at the association’s annual conventions at Winona Lake, Indiana, and wrote scores for Graham films. [13] Maintaining the balance between the competing elements of the evangelical alliance was not easy. He was not asked to continue after his Winona Lake productions were criticized as too "Hollywood" and too "worldly." [14]
By the late 1950s, he was working for Sacred Records, [15] who rented facilities from Capital Records. That led to his being asked to make arrangements for one of Capital’s artists, Nat King Cole. [16] This time, his church told him they would not renew his ordination. [17]
Word Records of Waco, Texas, bought Sacred in the early 1960s. [18] It had hired Kurt Kaiser in 1959 to produce records. [19] Bill Pearce, a performer from Chicago, remembered Carmichael raised the company’s artistic level when he hired professional musicians to work as session men. [20]
The rise of rock ‘n’ roll created the same problems for evangelicals as it did other religious groups. Thomas Bergler suggested they feared the ecstatic release that occurred in rock concerts would compete with religious emotion. [21]
The commercial folk-music revival provided a more acceptable alternative. In 1969, Carmichael and Kaiser collaborated on one of the first successful Christian folk musicals, Tell It Like It Is. [22] The next year, the two produced an album and songbook for Cliff Barrows, Graham’s music director, that included two songs from the show, one from a Graham film, and a version of "Kumbaya." [23]
They used the standard crying/singing/praying verses. Then, to make the version unique and eligible for copyright, they added a final verse that placed it in the evangelical tradition. It assured listeners that He would listen to their prayers.
The melody for burden between singing and praying verses was sung "in 2nd." This use of a tenor lead was borrowed from early Protestant music in this country and perpetuated in the sacred-harp song books discussed in the post for 21 December 2017.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: scored for SATB
Vocal Director: Kurt Kaiser
Instrumental Accompaniment: harpsichord
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Songbook
African Melody
Arr. By Ralph Carmichael
Album
P.D. [public domain]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: the written melody for the word "kumbaya" used two eighth-notes followed by a dotted-eighth; their Southern propensity to stress the first syllable of a word led the choristers to treat it more like a dotted-eighth sixteenth dotted-eighth. [24]
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying, own verse
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: burden-verse
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none in text
Unique Features: special verse emphasized the efficacy of prayer
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 3/4
Tempo: Carmichael specified "Moderately slow"; Kaiser used a quicker tempo on the recording
Key Signature (songbook)
Kumbaya - no flats or sharps
Verse - 5 flats
Verse - 2 sharps
Verse - 5 flats
Verse - no flats or sharps
Basic Structure: repetition with variations in key and use of male and female voices
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final "Lord." They sang the last line much slower.
Harmony: in the first verse set, Carmichael relied of parallel third chords. In the singing verse he used parallel fifths for the verse and more complex chords for the burden. Instead of repeating the burden before the last verse, the choristers hummed. He also varied the parts by gender, so the men sang the opening verse, followed by the women. Later, the sopranos and altos hummed while the tenors and basses sang.
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: the score showed the piano accompanying the group with chords. On the recording, the harpsichord simulated a banjo and only played chords when a stringed instrument would have been strummed. Occasionally, it added arpeggios above the melodic line.
Notes on Performers
Carmichael was raised in an Assembly of God household, and attended its college to become a minister like all the men in the family. [25] However, his father encouraged his interest in music and hoped he would become a professional violinist. [26] He had become a part owner of Lexicon music when it was associated with Sacred Records, and remained a half owner when it was acquired by Word. [27]
Kaiser’s family were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a British precursor of the Pentecostal movement discussed in the post for 25 December 2017. He studied music at the American Conservatory of Music and Northwestern. While he was with Word, he directed Baylor University’s Religious Hour Choir from 1965 to 1970. [28]
Baylor was a Baptist school located in Waco. [29] The Kurt Kaiser Singers most likely were Baylor students. One choir member said they were called the Kurt Kaiser Singers on Word’s recording of Tell It Like It Is in 1969. [30] Another remembered Word was auditioning students for another musical in the fall in 1970, [31] after Kaiser no longer was the director. The record was not dated, but the songbook was copyrighted in 1970.
Availability
Album: Kurt Kaiser Singers. Cliff Barrows Now! Word WST-8500-LP.
Songbook: Cliff Barrows Now. Arrangements by Ralph Carmichael and Kurt Kaiser. Waco, Texas: Lexicon Music, Inc, 1970. 21-27.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Scopes Trial." The trial occurred in 1925.
2. Convention resolution, 1928. Quoted by Vinson Synan. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997 edition. 208. He may have been thinking of Aimee Semple McPherson who was then popular.
3. The quest for evidence of salvation was discussed in the post for 7 December 2017.
4. The unintended consequences of European Biblical research are discussed by Wikipedia. "Historical Criticism."
5. National Association of Evangelicals. "History." Its website. The FCC also included African-American conferences association with each group. It became the National Council of Churches in 1950. (Wikipedia. "Federal Council of Churches.")
6. NAE. "Statement of Faith (1943)." Quoted by Wikipedia. "National Association of Evangelicals." This use of evangelical differed from Martin Luther; most Lutheran synods did not affiliate with the organization.
7. NAE, History.
8. Wikipedia. "Youth for Christ."
9. Thomas E. Bergler. "‘I Found My Thrill’: The Youth for Christ Movement and American Congregational Singing, 1940-1970." 123-149 in Wonderful Words of Life: Hymns in American Protestant History and Theology. Edited by Mark A. Noll and Richard J. Mouw. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. 128. "Billy Graham repeatedly told Youth for Christ audiences that ‘the young people around the world today who are having the best time are the young people who know Jesus Christ’."
10. YFC Leaders Conference, 1945, said "Y.F.C. is a youth rally, rather than a church service." Quoted by Bergler. 128.
11. Singing Youth for Christ. Edited by Frank C. Phillips, Robert A. Cook, and Cliff Barrows. Chicago: Youth for Christ International, 1948. Quoted by Bergler. 127-128.
12. Bergler. 126.
13. Wikipedia. "Ralph Carmichael."
14. Bergler. 126.
15. "Sacred Records." Discogs website. The first recordings they dated for Carmichael were from 1958.
16. Marc Myers. "Interview: Ralph Carmichael (Part 1)." All About Jazz website.
17. Wikipedia, Carmichael.
18. Don Cusic. The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel Music. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1990. 136.
19. Wikipedia. "Kurt Kaiser." Technically, he was responsible for what was termed A&R, or artists and repertoire.
20. Wikipedia. "Bill Pearce." Pearce recorded for Word.
21. Bergler. 141.
22. Wikipedia, Carmichael. The first folk musical was Good News in 1965. (Cusic, 127)
23. The songs from the musical were "Pass It On" and "Love Is Surrender." The one from the film His Land was "The New 23rd."
24. Erik R. Thomas said the Southern speech area spread from the Atlantic to west Texas and parts of eastern new Mexico, and at least as far north as the north flowing tributaries of the Ohio river. Within that area there was a "tendency to place stress to the initial syllable of particular words," which elsewhere were pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. "Rural White Southern Accents." 300-324 in A Handbook of Varieties of English. Edited by Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004.
25. Wikipedia, Carmichael.
26. Myers.
27. Cusic. 136.
28. Wikipedia, Kaiser.
29. Wikipedia. "Baylor University."
30. M. J. Wofford. Post on BRH Choir Alumni Public Group Facebook page.. 14 August 2017.
31. Betty Newman. "On a Natural High with Kurt Kaiser." White Bluff Chapel, Whitney, Texas, website. 3 May 2012.
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