Taylor Ferguson Professor Germain English 1101 October 1, 2013 Genre Analysis Essay I can only imagine a repetitive

phrase in Mercy Mes song, I can only imagine, describes an individual wondering what his/ her future beholds. Groups of people come together at church to grow in faith and understand what life truly is by singing hymns and reading scriptures from the Bible, by this they have developed into a discourse community. These two genres help to map out the understanding and uniqueness of church and Christianity. Church has become a discourse community due to its altered communication, taken from the Bible, from most of society. While listening to a piece of music, one may become relaxed, informed, entertained, emotional, or even confused. During church, there is specific music that is played that allows for the congregation to join in on the singing. The songs that have been chosen are done so in order to send a message to the audience, attempting to teach them more about Christ. Depending on where a person stands with their faith determines whether or not they are just singing the song because everyone else is doing so or if they are getting the true message behind every word. The songs are meant to help direct the listener/ singers towards the path that God has chosen for them. A great hymn that is well known throughout most of this specific discourse community is How Great thou Art. One

of the lines in this hymn goes, Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee and represents how every thing that is being sung is for Christ alone. While in church, singing songs is not the only way to get a message across. Another genre used in the discourse community of church is the Bible. This book has been interpreted throughout many languages and dumbed down so that anyone is capable of reading it. The Bible is used to inform individuals about Christianity and what happened throughout history. It is a piece that was put together by multiple people during the years and is the most know book in the world. This book is very difficult to understand; however, when understood, shows truth and helps to strengthen faith. The audience reads this book to understand what really did happen in the past. They want to know this so that they can tell others and continue the existence of their community and continue the growth of it as well. Both of the genres, songs as well as the Bible, help to establish a reason for the existence of church and prove what is being stated during the hours that church takes place. The songs or hymns that are sung tend to make the audience a little emotional. The singers feel free and open. It is more of a relieved and thankfulness than some sort of sad emotion. The Bible can give multiple different emotions when reading it. From the different stories that are spoken of, you could be upset, scared, curious, etc. These two genres are capable of so much and what of can be proven with much research; however, to get the most out of it, you have to have faith and read in between the lines. Without the Bible, the church would have nothing to base its teachings off of and would not be able to give a reference to anyone not yet involved in the discourse

community. Also, without the songs, people wouldnt get as much of an emotional feeling with everything. The songs that the congregation sings are used more for back up; they arent the main teaching guides. You can take these two genres anywhere you go and use them whenever you want. They take time to explain; however, there are some things to explain them easier which would help reduce the amount of time people would take. The main goals for this community are to share the word of God to the people of God. The artifacts, the Bible and the hymns, are used in order to support His claims to individuals outside of the religious world. The Bible tells the story of Gods son, Jesus Christ, and proves how perfect his life was and what we should be living for in ours. Throughout the discourse community of church, there are three modes of persuasion including logos, pathos, and ethos. These three things are used all throughout this community. The term ethos describes how well something is described to an audience. As you look at the Bible, you can see multiple forms of ethos including the teachings of Jesus and how he changed individuals that were non-believers into believers. The term pathos speaks on emotion and how people are affected by something. When you read the Bible and the stories that take place, you feel a strong emotion inside of you. Also, while singing hymns, if you sing from your heart and think about all the meanings that the song holds, your emotions will be running all around within you. Finally, logos are used all throughout church. If you look at the pastor for example, he is taking what God says, in the Bible, and is using it to provide facts to the congregation in order to support His claim. Anyone who shares the word of God is using logos. They are taking what God says in the Bible and encouraging it to others.

In the discourse community of church, there is a language that is used that separates it from other communities. The language comes from Jewish people as well as others and is used in the Bible. It is not necessarily another type of language such as Spanish, English, Italian or anything to that extent; the language that is used in Christianity is cultivating. The language promotes growth in ones self or in a specific practice. It is more formal of a language than what one may think of it to be. When trying to grow in religion or to have more of a role in a specific discourse community such as church, one must understand the history behind the language of Christianity and why individuals happened to do what they did. There are a vast amount of genres that can help portray the message from God in church; however, the Bible and songs or hymns are the most effective. The Bible is the most effective genre in getting a message across to individuals inside of this discourse community because it is the word of God and it is what explains history. There are so many stories and verses inside of the book that can give a clear message for people to see and understand.