ABSTRACT
Building upon recent scholarship into how ethical issues are integral to human experiences of music, the chapter explores ideas about the power of music to evoke self-reflection and social change. The chapter contains recently gathered contemporary data about modern attitudes to morality and self-worth in relation to the performance of Christian sacred music in the western tradition as experienced by the individual and the corporate listener in both secular and sacred contexts. The chapter examines two strands of contemporary scholarship concerning music's moral value: first, music as an aesthetic object, and second, music as process, experience, encounter, and relationship; it also considers the distinctive nature of sacred music and its influence upon the human character, drawing upon statistical research data, anecdotal evidence as well as one case study, the Oxford Lent Concerts. The findings suggest two overarching ethical themes linked with sacred music: a potential increase of moral conscience, compassion, and action; and a potential ethical benefit, through “proximity” and “trace” to individuals and communities, through the experience, encounter, and relationship of the musical process, promoting spiritual healing, increased sense of well-being, and greater sense of social cohesion. In addition, the chapter concludes that engagement with sacred music can highlight issues of suffering and injustice, and enable the participant, whether as listener or performer, to act more selflessly, sacrificially, with more compassion and humanity, bringing healing to both themselves and others.
