Dordt faculty bring theology and musicology together in new book on multilingual worship

Dordt University faculty members Dr. Jeremy Perigo, professor of theology and worship arts, and Dr. John MacInnis, professor of music, have co-edited a new book exploring the role of multilingualism in Christian worship.

Multilingualism in Religious Musical Practice brings together scholars from a range of Christian traditions and global contexts to examine how and why congregations incorporate multiple languages into their worship. The interdisciplinary volume considers multilingual worship through the lenses of musicology, missiology, and liturgical theology.

Originally, the book grew out of Perigo and MacInnis’ previous work on translation and worship music. “Jeremy and I had already spent several years thinking about translation in worship music, and that earlier project kept running up against a question: What happens when a congregation doesn’t settle on one language at all but sings in two or three?” says MacInnis. “That’s an ordinary Sunday for an enormous number of churches, and it deserved its own volume.”

The volume includes contributors who approach multilingual worship from a variety of geographic and cultural perspectives, including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Italy, Singapore, and Latin America. Together, the chapters demonstrate that multilingual worship can take many forms and that congregations’ decisions about language are shaped by their particular histories, communities, and theological commitments.

For Perigo, the project connects directly with Dordt’s emphasis on discerning how human practices can be directed toward God’s good purposes. “This work draws on Christian Ethicist Nathan Myrick’s concept of ‘musical caring’ to help explore multilingualism in congregational music that demonstrates care ethics,” he explains.

“An important aspect of our teaching and scholarship at Dordt is discerning creational direction, where we can explore how human actions and worldviews can be misdirected away from God’s good design or redirected toward God’s good order,” says Perigo.

Although the book features contributors from a range of geographic and cultural backgrounds, both Perigo and MacInnis believe the book opens conversations that are applicable to all churches—even locally in Sioux Center.

“In the introduction, it was a joy to briefly reflect on multilingualism in historic Dutch Reformed churches in America and its contemporary use in our region,” says Perigo. “This phenomenon is not something happening in mega churches or mega cities but is a feature of so many churches around the world, including churches in Sioux County.”

“Sioux County has been a multilingual worshiping community at various points in its history, and congregations within a short drive of Dordt University are singing in more than one language on Sunday mornings. The book is about them, too,” says MacInnis.

While Perigo and MacInnis approach the subject from different academic disciplines, their collaboration allowed the book to consider both the theological questions surrounding multilingual worship and the ways language, music, migration, and memory shape musical practices.

“In world music and music history courses, I ask students to hear music as something people do together, shaped by language, migration, and memory, not as a catalog of historic styles,” says MacInnis. “The Reformed instinct that all of creation, languages included, belongs to God and can be turned toward Him or away is not an add-on to scholarship about church music. It’s the reason the questions matter.”

About Dordt University

As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, alumni, and the broader community to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life.

Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt offers undergraduate and graduate programs that help students live their faith in every area of life. Through rigorous learning, meaningful relationships, and whole-person formation, students gain the practical wisdom to serve God and neighbor through their work and in their communities. Dordt has been named among the nation's leading Christian universities by U.S. News & World Report, Niche, and other national publications.