At the time of writing this post, the US election is not quite over. The mainstream media (now including the Murdoch empire) are presenting the strong likelihood that the Biden-Harris ticket will turn out to have won, but President Trump and his loyal supporters appear optimistic of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, with the aid of legal arguments, aggressive protest outside the vote counting stations, and of course prayer.
In this post, I want to talk about a prayer session on the Thursday after the election led by Paula White-Cain, Trump's controversial spiritual advisor.
Presidential spiritual adviser Paula White is currently leading an impassioned prayer service in an effort to secure Trump's reelection. pic.twitter.com/hCSRh84d6g
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 5, 2020
A number of people have offered musical interpretations and mashups.
@pjgrisar of @jdforward saw parallels with Steve Reich's 1965
composition It's Gonna Rain, which used a tape recording of an apocalyptic Pentecostal street preacher called Brother Walter.
Meanwhile, many people took to social media to remind Mrs White of something Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking
. (Matthew 6:7).
Regular readers of this blog may not be surprised to learn that this verse has been subject to many different translations and interpretations, going back at least as far as Martin Luther. (The Greek version features the curious word battalogein, but Jesus's original words were probably in Aramaic.)
Theologians sometimes argue that there is no problem with repetition as such, the problem is with the vanity of the repetition. Steven Winiarski argues that repetition becomes vain when it is used with bad motives. Bad motives
for repetition include any attempt to use music and repetition to elicit a purely emotional response, to gain a personal audience, or to manipulate God.
So what exactly was the purpose and intended effect of Mrs White's incantation?
P.J. Grisar, Paula White’s wild Trump sermon is begging for the Steve Reich treatment (Forward, 5 November 2020)
Tom McCarthy, Rupert Murdoch-owned US outlets turn on Trump, urging him to act with 'grace' (The Guardian, 7 November 2020)
Seren Morris, Paula White's Trump Prayers Go Viral on Twitter, Inspire Memes and Remixes
(Newsweek, 5 November 2020)
Nicholas Till, Joy in Repetition: Critical genealogies of musical minimalism (Performance Research 20:5, 2015)
Steven Winiarski, Music, Culture, and Vain Repetition: Matthew 6 in its Context (Artistic Theologian 4, 5 April 2016)
Wikipedia: It's Gonna Rain, Language of Jesus, Matthew 6:7, Paula White
Related post: Worshipping the Golden Calf (October 2008)
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