On Voice
Speech, Song and Silence: Human and Divine
Victoria Johnson
Paperback |192 pp |216 x 135 mm
'In a wonderful counterpoint of personal record and theological musing, Victoria Johnson urges us to think of our singing voices not just as an arbitrary decoration for human life but as expressive of the body's longing for meaning and connection. On Voice is a book full of insight, empathy and joy, and I hope it makes you want to join in'.
'Vicky’s voice sings from these pages – an invitation for us to hear the Divine in word and song. A beautiful story of voice and vocation.'
‘On Voice will likely draw a reader closer to the Divine; it will definitely make her long to sing.’
A book of theological insight and spiritual adventure, a beautiful invitation for us to find our own voice within the music of creation
* Revd Canon Dr Vicky Johnson’s first book is an original and engaging study on theology and the human voice
* Considers how the voice of God has been represented and affected in worship, art and culture and explores how God speaks to us today
From cathedral choirs, football chanting, and birdsong, to castrati, protest songs and artificial intelligence, On Voice explores the world of the voice that exists between the mouth and the ear. This is a book about the sound that journeys from the lips to the heart; how we speak it, how we hear it and how we embody it as people made in the image of the God whose voice created the heavens and the earth.
Through the lens of Christian worship, theology and culture, the voice is explored as a spoken, sung and heard phenomenon. As an animateur of worship and working towards a theology of voice, Victoria reflects on the power of the church’s musical and liturgical heritage to cut through the clamour of our modern-day echo chambers and the roar of populism, empower those who are seldom heard, and speak into the challenges of contemporary life.