Sound Healing in Churches
Spiritual Sounds in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.157499Keywords:
sound healing, Evangelical Lutheranism, alternative and holistic spirituality, sound, silence, embodimentAbstract
This article explores the incorporation of sound healing in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF), analysing how this embodied spiritual practice is reinterpreted within a Christian framework. Using digital ethnography, the article examines how ideas of embodiment, therapeutic sound, and silence intersect with Lutheran traditions. The theoretical concepts of acoustemology, sonic skills, and esoteric sounds are employed to highlight how non-verbal and non-musical sonic experiences are adopted and reshaped within the ELCF to fit Christian aesthetics. The findings reveal that sound healing is primarily framed through the following strategies: redefining churches as acoustic spaces; framing sound healing as silent prayer; and negotiations of theological and ritual boundaries. Ultimately, the study provides knowledge about how the ELCF has integrated new understandings of sensory experiences in relation to sound and silence and their therapeutic potential into its activities.
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