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Music and religion have a long and constitutive history. When considering the potential religious dimensions of the Star Wars universe, musical elements should not be ignored. This article explores the iconic musical scores of John Williams for the Star Wars franchise as a form of worship music. Worship music, especially in Western contemporary Christian contexts, is employed for embodied expression, emotional experience, and spiritual encounter. In a similar fashion, the musical themes and sound world of Star Wars can engage fans in a visceral experience of, and encounter with, something beyond the natural. This article establishes the criteria and effects of contemporary worship music and applies that framework to Williams’s key themes for the Star Wars universe.

This second part of the esthesic analysis utilises survey data from Australia’s National Church Life Surveys (NCLS) conducted in 2011 asking congregants questions related to musical worship and their church’s worship services. Time is taken to examine the way in which questions were asked and interpreting the responses which were often not plainly evident. An additional Operations Survey is also analysed which provided information regarding church services, including service and sermon durations. The conclusion brings together the researcher’s survey findings and those of the NCLS to articulate some of the meaning-making processes Christians engage in relating to CCS.

This chapter brings the three layers of analysis together in dialogue, summarising the findings and articulating the nature of meaning-making as it relates to the contemporary congregational song (CCS) genre. It explores the contested nature of the genre and the conflicting messages that come through the research, including the balance between the new and the familiar, the tension between popular music and vernacular music priorities, and the negotiations between what is perceived as secular and sacred. This chapter contains a definitive descriptive section of the current global CCS genre. It also examines the evolving nature of the genre and its future trajectories impacted by technological advancement, the globalisation of Christian musical worship, and key CCS producers and megachurches. Finally, it discusses the functional nature of CCS and their place in the personal and corporate musical worship of Christians.

Continuing from Chap. 4, the focus of the interviews with the six key contemporary congregational song (CCS) composers shifts to consider a variety of factors affecting their writing. These include the way many CCS composers have integrated traditional worship forms (hymns) with CCS and the different ways CCS writers approach theological considerations related to their lyrics. They talk about the increasing practice of co-writing and reflect on their various roles and responsibilities in all areas of their life and how those impact their writing. The chapter finishes by bringing the perspectives of the poietic analysis together to highlight some of the tensions between industry and ministry, and summarise the meaning-making processes within the production milieu.

This is the second part of the poietic analysis. It initially introduces the six key contemporary congregational song (CCS) writers/worship leaders whose interviews provide much of the content for this chapter and the next. It establishes the diversity among the interviewees by age, background, denominational association, and country while justifying their place in the CCS canon. The USA, the UK, and Australia are the only countries represented in the representative CCS list, and they are represented among the interlocutors. The chapter then proceeds to discuss how these writers think about writing CCS, how they shape their writing for congregations, and how they predict or determine a song’s success.

This chapter initially focuses on the contested nomenclature for this genre, including its historical evolution and theological justifications. Space is given to addressing the particularly problematic term, ‘Praise and Worship’. The chapter then proceeds to qualify each of the three words (contemporary, congregational, and songs) in the chosen term for the genre, arguing that while it has limitations, it is still currently the most helpful term available for discussing such songs. The next section deals with the 32 most sung contemporary congregational songs (CCS) under analysis based on the Christian Copyright Licensing International’s biannual Church Copyright License and SongSelect reports and on YouTube views. A rationale is provided regarding how these most sung songs are representative of the global CCS genre.

Translation as a form of music localization does not only occur in diverse cultural or lingual contexts, it also occurs within an ostensibly homogenous culture and language. The global genre of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) is written and performed through a variety of theological lenses. Sometimes a theological position conveyed in, or ascribed to, CCS can be problematic for certain local expressions of the Christian faith to replicate without needing to alter lyrics, and/or musical content, or at least reinterpret those lyrics in a way which aligns with their theological understanding. This article explores popular CCS, as measured by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) which have been either accepted, rejected, reinterpreted, or otherwise altered in order to play their part in defining local (English-speaking) church worship and identity. Translation studies and music semiology are applied to selected CCS to demonstrate this nuanced interpretation of “translation” in the localizing of religious musical practice