Date of Award
Spring 6-3-2017
Document Type
Honors Project
University Scholars Director
Dr. Jeff Keuss
First Advisor/Committee Member
Ramona Holmes
Second Advisor/Committee Member
Stephen Newby
Keywords
Christian Musical Production, Sacred Oratorio, Book of Ruth, Multicultural Folk Songs, Choral Music for Children and Adults, Church Music
Abstract
“Ruth: A Bible Storatorio” is a combination of a narrated bible story and sung oratorio, designed for youth and adults alike to perform and enjoy. It emphasizes the theme of welcoming the stranger into a loving, God-honoring community. The Bible Storatorio contains multicultural folk tunes as well as original songs, arranged and composed for choral and solo songs, set to the charming text of the book of Ruth. It is quite natural that I was inspired to write this Bible Storatorio as an undergraduate honors project at Seattle Pacific University, since it combines several of my interests and passions as a Christian and as a musician: the book of Ruth with its sweet story of love and loyalty, the King James Version of scripture with its beautiful literary style, folk songs from countries around the world, and composing and arranging music for choral and solo singing.
My hope with Ruth: A Bible Storatorio is twofold: first that that it will allow adults and youth in Christian communities to grow spiritually, encouraging each other to actively practice hesed in daily interactions, being especially aware of the vulnerable foreigner in their community; and second that it will allow the performers to appreciate and value songs from foreign cultures, and consequently value and love individuals from those and other cultures that are other than their own. As issues regarding immigration and refugees create tension in our present politics and society, we will do well as Christians to look to the scriptural model we find in the book of Ruth, with its characters welcoming and caring for the foreigner among them, and remember that Ruth the foreigner herself became the ancestor of Jesus Christ in God’s story of salvation.
Recommended Citation
Chaffee, Lydia Hu, "Ruth: A Bible Storatorio" (2017). Honors Projects. 61.
https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/61
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Copyright held by author.
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Comments
A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Scholars Program