In Spirit 2014
jazz meets theology
in poetic and musical ways

IN SPIRIT 2014 will take place 68 times in 15 locations in Germany, inspiring an eye-to-eye dialogue between jazz and church. Just as in the time of Johann Sebastian Bach, contemporary music and theology meet as equal partners: as a cultural, religious movement for creative freedom. The theme for this year in the Luther Decade, „Reformation and Politics“, enhanced IN SPIRIT 2014 with many references to the church year and the social relevance of the Christian faith, and gives these motifs voice through music and words. This happens in church services with jazz as a counterpart, often in collaboration with poets, local and national politicians, theologians, and more than 500 musicians in jazz ensembles, choirs and soloists. In addition to musical guests from Uzbekistan, Netherlands, USA, Sweden and Denmark, representatives from the Lutheran and Anglican churches in Sweden and England will also be participating.

The connection to festivals in Göttingen, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Brilon, the cooperation with schools and universities, the website documentation and a CD triptych should help the special features and multifaceted complexity of this series to have a wide social reach. IN SPIRIT is a new form of musical outreach for people of all ages – out of the church. The goal is the sustainable cultivation of a German-wide network of interested theologians, church communities and musicians, so that, through the use and input of jazz, they can expand and deepen the diversity of liturgical forms within the canon of protestant church music.

IN SPIRIT 2014 is an initiative of Edition “Jazz aus Kirchen”, in cooperation with “Crescendo Jazz”, the international network of Christian professional musicians, in cooperation and with support from the Bureau for Cultural Affairs of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD).