Graduate Course in Congregational Song

The "Congregational Song" course is fully subscribed with attendees from Beijing, China to Cork County, Ireland and all over the U.S.  The next course will be Summer, 2022, "Music in Christian Worship."  Plan to attend!

Course Overview:

A historical survey of the church's hymnody and underpinning of psalmody. Presented in cooperation with Brite Divinity School, featuring Dr. James Abbington, Dr. Mary Louise Bringle, Dr. Zebulon Highben, Rev. Dr. Michael Joncas, Dr. Charlotte Kroeker, Dr. Don Saliers, and Rev. Dr. Paul Westermeyer. Three hours graduate credit for clergy and musicians through Brite Divinity School, or documented non-credit/audit participation through CMI.

Faculty Information:

Dr. James Abbington is Associate Professor of Music and Worship at Candler School of Theology. Dr. Abbington's research interests include music and worship in the Christian church, African American sacred folk music, organ, choral music, and ethnomusicology. Dr. Abbington serves as executive editor of the African American Church Music Series by GIA Publications (Chicago). He served as co-director of music for the Hampton University Ministers' and Musicians' Conference. In 2010, Hampton's Choir Directors'-Organists' Guild honored Abbington by naming their Church Music Academy after him. He has also served as the national director of music for both the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the NAACP.

Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies and chair of the Humanities Division at Brevard College (Brevard, NC). A teacher at heart and a theologian by training (with a Ph.D. from Emory University and an assortment of publications in pastoral theology), she began writing hymn texts in 1999. Since that time, she has won a number of international hymn-writing competitions and been featured as an "emerging text writer" by The Hymn Society in the US and Canada.She served as President of The Hymn Society and chair of the committee to create a new hymnal for the Presbyterian Church USA.

A conductor, composer, and scholar of sacred music, Dr. Zebulon M. Highben serves as Director of Chapel Music at Duke University Chapel and as Associate Professor of the Practice of Church Music at Duke Divinity School. He conducts the Duke Chapel Choir, edits the Music from Duke Chapel choral series, teaches courses in church music and hymnody, and oversees the Chapel’s extensive music program, which connects students, community members, staff singers, instrumentalists, and professional colleagues in myriad worship services and concerts.
As a composer, Zebulon is frequently commissioned by churches, schools, and arts organizations. More than sixty of his choral compositions, hymns, and liturgical pieces are published by eight major domestic publishing houses (Augsburg Fortress, Boosey & Hawkes, Colla Voce, E.C. Schirmer, GIA, Kjos, MorningStar, Santa Barbara) and by Gehrmans Musikförlag in Sweden. Compositional honors include awards from the American Composers Forum, The American Prize, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, ASCAP, and the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

Ordained in 1980 as a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN, Fr. (Jan) Michael Joncas served from 1980 to 1984 as associate pastor with Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Maplewood, Minnesota. Following that assignment, he was campus minister and education director for the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota from 1984 to 1987. Next, from 1987 to 1991, he was focused on graduate study in Rome where he earned a doctorate in liturgical studies from the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo S. Anselmo in Rome. From 1991 to 1993, he was a parochial administrator at St. Cecilia's Parish in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1991 he has taught in graduate programs in theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN; St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN; the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN; and the Angelicum University, Rome, Italy, among other institutions.

Michael has published six books: The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Liturgy and Sacraments; Preaching the Rites of Christian Initiation; From Sacred Song to Ritual Music; Within Our Hearts Be Born. The Michael Joncas Hymnary: Advent and Christmas, We Contemplate the Mystery: The Michael Joncas Hymnary: Lent and Triduum, On Eagle’s Wings: A Journey through Illness toward Healing, and collaborated with Michael Driscoll on The Order of Mass: A Roman Missal Study Edition and Workbook. Over 250 of his articles have appeared in publications such as Worship, Pastoral Music and Ecclesia Orans. He also has composed more than 300 pieces and recorded more than 20 collections of liturgical music. He is currently Artist in Residence and Research Fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Dr. Don E. Saliers returned to Candler in 2014 as Theologian-in-Residence after retiring in 2007 as the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship. For many years he directed the Master of Sacred Music program at Emory, and was an organist and choirmaster at Cannon Chapel for 35 years. Before joining the Candler faculty in 1974, Saliers taught at Yale Divinity School, and has taught in summer programs at Notre Dame, Boston College, Vancouver School of Theology, St. John’s University, and Boston University School of Theology.
An accomplished musician, theologian and scholar of liturgics, Saliers is the author of 15 books on the relationship between theology and worship practices, as well as more than 150 articles, essays, chapters in books and book reviews. He co-authored A Song to Sing, a Life to Live with his daughter Emily Saliers, a member of the Indigo Girls.

Paul Westermeyer is Emeritus Professor of Church Music and Cantor at Luther Seminary, where he directed the Master of Sacred Music degree program with St. Olaf College. He has been the President of the Hymn Society, Editor of The Hymn, and Dean of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. His life’s work has been devoted to church music and the role of the church musician. His writing includes Te Deum: The Church and Music, The Church Musician, and the Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

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