Negotiating tension toward a hipper groove: Jazz improvisation as a metaphor within Christian ethics

Abstract

Jazz improvisation provides the Church with two fruitful metaphors as it faces tension and conflict. First, the Church in conflict might view itself as an improvising jazz band – a community of trust and mutuality that sees the negotiation of tension and resolution as a potentially positive process deepening identity and fellowship. Second, the jazz musician struggling with the contingency of her instrument provides a model for facing our creatureliness as a source of human tension.