Music and Religious Change among Progressive Jews in London : Being Liberal and Doing Traditional

This book analyses the role of music in processes of religious change in contemporary progressive Judaism. Based on ethnographic research conducted in London, it illustrates a growing trend among progressive Jews in the West today: the desire to combine liberal theology with forms of practice experienced as more traditional.

This book analyses religion and change in relation to music within the context of contemporary progressive Judaism. It argues that music plays a central role as a driving force for religious change, comprising several elements seen as central to contemporary religiosity in general: participation, embodiment, experience, emotions and creativity. Focusing on the progressive Anglo-Jewish milieu today, the study investigates how responses to these processes of change are negotiated individually and collectively and what role is allotted to music in this context. Building on ethnographic research conducted at Leo Baeck College in London (2014–2016), it maps how theologically unsystematic life-views take form through everyday musical practices related to institutional religion, identifying three theoretically relevant processes at work: the reflexive turn, the turn within and the turn to tradition.