26 October 2021
Dr. G.J. Baan appointed as associate researcher in 'Theology and Music'
A comprehensive research project on the question whether and to what extent church music can be regarded as proclaiming the Gospel. That is the task to which Dr. Gert Jan Baan will be appointed on 1 November 2021 at the Theological University Apeldoorn as an associate researcher (0.2 fte) within the new Research Programme Theology and Music, led by professors Clement, Kater and Selderhuis. Dr. Baan - pastor of the Reformed Congregation Rotterdam-Zuidwijk - recently obtained his doctorate at the TUA with a thesis on the three earliest Easter cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach. Dr. Baan's research is important for the decreasing influx of (semi) professional church musicians, for reflection on the relationship between church music and church abandonment (especially among young people), music and faith perception, musical arrangements in church services and the application of music in pastoral care.
Dr. Baan will be the third associate researcher at TUA, alongside Dr. A. Versluis who is researching in the field of the Old Testament and Dr. A. van der Knijff who is examining the perception of faith in Christian Reformed sermons.
"Dr. Baan's research is of great importance to the church and fits perfectly within the TUA's aim of using science to serve the church and theology," according to Professor Selderhuis, rector of the TUA.
