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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN
THE HISTORY OF SUBCULTURES
AND POPULAR MUSIC
Sarah Raine
Authent
icity and
the Nor Belongin
PALGRAVE thern So g in
STU
HISTORY O DIES IN THE
F SUBCULT
AND POPU URES The Role u l S cene
LAR MUSIC of Hist ory and
a Multig Identity
eneratio in
nal Mus
ic Cultur
e
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures
and Popular Music
Series Editors
Keith Gildart
University of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton, UK
Anna Gough-Yates
University of Roehampton
London, UK
Sian Lincoln
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool, UK
Bill Osgerby
London Metropolitan University
London, UK
Lucy Robinson
University of Sussex
Brighton, UK
John Street
University of East Anglia
Norwich, UK
Peter Webb
University of the West of England
Bristol, UK
Matthew Worley
University of Reading
Reading, UK
From 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats through 1950s rock ‘n’ rollers, beatniks
and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rude boys, mods, hippies and bikers;
1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and punks; on
to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave and clubber styles of the
1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond, distinctive blends of fashion and music
have become a defining feature of the cultural landscape. The Subcultures
Network series is international in scope and designed to explore the social
and political implications of subcultural forms. Youth and subcultures will
be located in their historical, socio-economic and cultural context; the
motivations and meanings applied to the aesthetics, actions and manifesta-
tions of youth and subculture will be assessed. The objective is to facilitate
a genuinely cross-disciplinary and transnational outlet for a burgeoning
area of academic study.
More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14579
Sarah Raine
Authenticity and
Belonging in the
Northern Soul Scene
The Role of History and Identity
in a Multigenerational Music Culture
Sarah Raine
Edinburgh Napier University
Edinburgh, UK
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music

ISBN 978-3-030-41363-7 ISBN 978-3-030-41364-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
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electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
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publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
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Cover illustration: Bradley Olson / EyeEm / GettyImages
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
For my parents, Jayne and Peter Raine.
A Preface (in Poesis)
Dancing on the edge of soul. My soul, your soul. A soul to be claimed: a

slippery form to be constructed by words, by notes, by movements, by
things that it’s not; that it is. A form held up in opposition to yours, to
mine. Or a crowd of familiar forms, stood side-by-side as a barrier, creat-
ing inside and out. To be shared, with a brother in soul: in agreement, in
argument, in evidence. Through rhythms, and names, and dates and
voices; to create form. To contend a form.
This is a changeable soul. A potentially exhausting nest of borrowed
strands, magpie-eyed, furiously defended and feathered by those wary of
pretenders who squawk too loudly. This changeable composition, this
waltz of knowledge creation—its defence, its defended value—is not one
dedicated solely to soul, but a dance we all understand. Its steps are some-
times different, and sometimes the same, they relate to different sounds in
different places, equally unstable and tangled. Claiming belonging, claim-
ing ownership, of this soul—this particular soul—is a never-ending dance,
a dance within which the performer changes, but also stays the same.
Where disparate dances converge and new nests are made, new steps are
formed, and strands are recycled to make binding sense of the non-sense
whole. It captures the dancer, twists around them and binds them,
becomes of them.
And so, the dancer can become lost in the dance. Searching for soul, yet
caught in the minutiae of the movement. Days lost. Threads lost. But to
vii
viii A PREFACE (IN POESIS)
be regained in future moments on the floor, this changeable form solidify-

ing for a moment, caught in stasis by words, a record, an image, a memory
recounted. A peaceful and momentary pause of a whole. Before it all
begins again.
Edinburgh, UK Sarah Raine

Acknowledgements
With thanks, firstly, to the northern soulies who gave up their time to talk
to me, to introduce me to new people, and who so generously shared their
northern soul world. This book is a testament to your passion, your
knowledge and your dedication. I wish to thank Alice, Bobby, Dave,
Dean, Des, Emma, Esther, Grace, Harry, Jacquie, James, Joe, John, Lee,
Levi, Maria, Mike, Nancy, Nina, Paul, Rachel, Rob, Steve, Sally, Tim,
Tommy and the other northern soulies that spoke to me and (eventually)
gave me space on the dance floor.
I am forever indebted to Tim Wall and Nicholas Gebhardt, whose wis-
dom and expertise guided me throughout this research. With Tim, I have
shared a dance floor, hundreds of hours of conversation, many car jour-
neys and flights, co-written chapters and editorial roles. With Nick, many
books and conversations about writing, many gin and tonics, laughs and
jazz adventures, from sunny Granada to rainy Birmingham. I hope that he
can see the influence of his own dedication to writing and his humour
within this book. I am indebted, too, to the work and thoughts of won-
derful writers and thinkers, in particular Steven Feld, David Grazian, Ben
Malbon, Alfred Schütz and Kathleen Stewart.
With thanks to my family, particularly my parents to whom this book is
dedicated. You were the first to fill my mind with questions and music and
writing. Seems like it stuck. And to my brother, Josh. You might have to
wait a bit for the promised audiobook version…
To the members of Write Club, thank you for your supportive com-
ments, critique and inspiration. I apologise now for breaking the first rule
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and talking/writing about Write Club. And to my community of popular

music (and, more recently, jazz) scholars and friends. I am so very thankful
for you.
Thank you, also, to Lizzie Wheeler for her twenty-seven years of friend-
ship, unwavering support, and for proofreading an early version of this
book. To Lyle Bignon for his love and patience. To Nic Pillai for his
humour and comradeship. And to Jory Debenham, Asya Draganova,
Craig Hamilton, Iain Taylor, Leon Clowes, Ian Davies, Tom Paige, Cat
Archer, and Maria Nelson for your strength, kindness, and friendship.
And to “Charlie”. Thank you for introducing me to northern soul. It
changed my life.
Contents
1 We Share the Floor 1

References 4
2 “Going To A Happening” 5
At the Peak of the Night 5
A Moment to Catch Our Breath 7
References 10
3 “Let’s Talk It Over” 11

Getting Into It: A Soul Nite in Staffordshire 11
Negotiating a Place: The Record Stands at Rugby 14
Power Dynamics in a Multigenerational Music Scene 17
Claiming to Belong 20
References 24
4 “I Got Something Good” 27

Two Ballrooms in Blackpool 27
The Winter Gardens, February 2012 27
The Blackpool Tower Weekender, November 2016 29
Ways In 32
xi
xii CONTENTS
Being on the Inside 36

On/of the Scene: A Shared Northern Soul Identity 38
“I Just Go Out and Have a Good Time”: Pushing the
Boundaries 44
References 48
5 The History Lesson 51

A “Northern” Premiere: The King George’s Hall, Blackburn 53
From the Catacombs to Chatham: Three Accounts of the Northern
Soul Past 56
An Interview with Mike (62) About the Catacombs 56
A Letter from Dave (58) and “a Sort of History Lesson” 57
Grace (57) and the London Soul Scene 61
The Self-Documented History of Northern Soul 63
Historicising Insider Experience 68
References 71
6 “Back in the Day” 75

Summer 2015: Experiencing Time and the Past at the Kings Hall 75
“Soul Time”: Engagements with Time and the Past on the
Northern Soul Scene 79
Stories of Northern Soul Nights 82
Patching Up Northern Soul Histories 84
“I Can Imagine”: Empathetic Extensions of Northern Soul
History 87
Engaging with the Material Past 90
Creating a Knowledgeable Northern Soul Style 92
Doing Drugs “Properly” 95
An “Appropriate” Engagement with Technology 99
“Fuck Wigan”: Boycotting the Kings Hall 103
References 106
7 “I’m Where It’s At”109

Searching for the “Proper” Place 112
The Place of Place in Northern Soul 114
A Tale of Two Events: The Value of Northern Soul History in
Contemporary Places 118
Heading “Home” and Being “Out of Place” 122
The “Proper Nighter”: Finding a Place of One’s Own 125
CONTENTS xiii
The Place of Class in Northern Soul 128

Dave Godin’s Autoethnography of the North in Northern Soul 131
The Working-Class “Northern Soul Story” 134
Empathetic Histories of Working-Class Experience 136
Scene Success: “Hard Work and Hard Knocks” 138
Cultural Signifiers of the “Inside” 141
A Bar in Barcelona: Making Sense of New Northern Soul Places 145
Class in New Places 148
References 150
8 “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me”153

“Out On The Floor”: Gendered Expectations of “the Dancer” 160
“Fucking Hell, He Makes That Look Easy”: The Cool Dancer 163
“Don’t Bring Me Down for Being a Dancer”: Public Critique
and the Dance Floor 166
Original Vinyl Only: Record Collecting 167
Informal Mentoring and Northern Soul Record Collecting 169
“He’s Not Touching My Records, ‘Cause They Are Personal”:
Doing-It-for-Yourself 171
Masters of Soul: DJing on the Northern Soul Scene 175
Northern Soul DJ Practices 177
Starting Out 179
Learning to DJ 180
The DJ as Emcee 183
We’ll Do-It-Ourselves: “Young Souls” and Event Organising 188
Finding a Place: Gender in the Northern Soul Scene 191
References 193
9 “A Little Togetherness”195

Conclusions 195
From Debut to Finale 201
References 206
Events207
CHAPTER 1
We Share the Floor
Placing the bag on the floor, the ritual of the evening begins.1
Having arrived early into a cool and cavernous hall, I push my bag
underneath the chair and hang my coat on the back, claiming my space.
The chair I have chosen is on the right-hand side of the room. Not too
close to the speakers—distorted in their attempt to fill the vast town hall
with the sound of stylus on vinyl—yet not too close to the bar and the
pressing humanity in the peak hours to come, either. The tables are set at
ninety degrees to the dance floor, forming long rectangles with chairs
tightly packed around. The chair that I choose is two in. Later, when the
large hall is full of people dancing and watching, I will be able to sit down
to rest aching feet. This seat, too, will be free of the leaning bodies stand-
ing around the edge, and yet close enough for me to get back on to the
floor unencumbered for the right record.
A base established, my boyfriend Charlie and I walk to the bar to order
a drink.2 Gin and tonic in a small plastic cup, to be nursed around the edge
of the dance floor even though it remains relatively empty; it’s 9.05 pm
and only a few people brave the expanse of the wooden floor, polished and
1
This section is a reworking of a short piece of fiction that I published in Litro (Raine
2016) and was influenced by an article by Alfred Schütz (1951).
2
All names in this study are pseudonyms, used to protect the identity of the individual.
This research was undertaken within Birmingham City University’s Research Ethical
Framework and approved by the Birmingham School of Media’s ethics committee.
© The Author(s) 2020 1

S. Raine, Authenticity and Belonging in the Northern Soul Scene,
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_1
2 S. RAINE
ready for the night ahead. We thumb through the flyers advertising future
“northern” events at other venues that clutter our table as people slowly
join us. Nods and shouted greetings as we all secure our place for the eve-
ning. Not quite comfortable enough to dance in full view of the slowly
filling room, I ease myself in, glancing around for familiar faces and taking
Dutch courage from the alcohol in front of me.
Plastic glass empty, I reach underneath the chair and into my bag to
pull out my dancing shoes. A slight heel and leather soles, sourced pains-
takingly online and embroidered with what I regard to be tongue-in-cheek
red flames. They arrive at this northern soul event as they always do: pris-
tine. Saved from the wet and grime of the outside world, soles smooth for
the step and slide of the scene dance style. Learning from past nights, I
make sure that the shoe’s tongue is dead centre, the arch of my feet cush-
ioned from the tight laces necessary for high kicks and fast footwork. I
slide my foot across the carpet, twist my ankle and adjust the fit.
Watching the familiar movements of the dancers on the floor as I wait
my turn—my first record—I see my ritual reflected in the preparations of
others around the edge: bags placed under chairs, coats on backs, dancing
shoes laced and drinks purchased. The hall begins to fill with people, and
an almost indecipherable murmur beneath the music begins to transform
the room. Rachel and Emma arrive, two women in their mid-twenties that
I have known for several years. I catch their eyes and wave. They smile
back as they head straight down the side of the dance floor, as usual, to the
right-hand side of the stage where the younger soulies tend to gather.
Rachel and Emma, along with the expanding crowd, take up their places
on the dance floor and the seats to the side. The confident ones who have
been here before push through the people amassing at the tables by the
door, eager to greet friends and to get good seats. Those here for the first
time take up a spot between the bar and the dance floor. From there they
have a good view of the dancers, but are saved from the real action by
beckoning pints and a sticky perimeter of carpet.
A record sounds out across the room. The one I have been waiting for
but couldn’t predict. It moves me to move, from my seat into a space, and
I become part of the motion on and off the dance floor. Weaving in and
out of the dancers already in place, I find a space of my own, not too close
to the sides and away from those who flail or aggressively expand their
area. It’s a fast record, so I begin with simple steps on every other beat.
Smooth and capable, if not the eye-catching performance of the most
competent dancers: a debut performance for this particular audience. And
1 WE SHARE THE FLOOR 3
it works. Those around me move into the in-between spaces, a harmoni-

ous ebb and flow of step and slide, a relationship of movement that binds
me into a kaleidoscope for those on the balcony above. My claim to the
space of the dance floor accepted by those dancing around me, the five
years spent dancing, watching, practising in quiet moments channelled
into a public demonstration of belonging.
My tentative first steps begin to mature, to sync seamlessly with the
rhythm. My head raises, my arms are more expressive. I look around and
away from myself to the arms and faces of others, dancing alongside me: a
mutual tuning-in relationship, bodies connecting without previous plan-
ning and yet avoiding contact. And I feel bound to this: to these people
with whom I share the floor, and to the music that captivates my body and
my thoughts.
Another three-minute explosion of sound comes to an end and, in the
lull between records, the next seven-inch single lined up on one of the two
decks is introduced by the DJ over the microphone. A “valuable rarity”
(like many of the other sounds that grace this hall); the important facts of
artist, record label, date of pressing, price, and its history so far on the
scene are mapped out, justifying this inclusion in a set of rare soul. It
doesn’t ring any bells. But it’s good. No; it’s amazing. What is it? I glance
around to see who is mouthing the lyrics. Some are, but others look on
with a similar mixture of rapture and frenzied movement, making the
most of this discovery that we have made. A record worth feeling sore for
in the morning—a high-kick, a backdrop, a spin. And it seems to be con-
tagious as the limbs flail and the etiquette of the dance floor becomes
harder to follow. A moment for “giving it all you’ve got”, and for some
dancers around me their performance of the evening. Yet even as I dance
“in” the music, changing my movements to suit the tempo and breaks of
an unfamiliar song, I consciously channel this through the repertoire that
I have learnt during my time on the soul scene.
And as I dance, I feel the eyes of the on-looking crowd, gathering at the
edges of the dance floor as the room begins to fill. I am aware of the move-
ments of other dancers around me, eager to claim a bigger area of the floor
through purposeful strides. Honed through observation and practice,
slides and steps and shuffles are the core palette of my movement. Unlike
the laughing women by the bar, drawing scowls in their stiletto heels on
polished wood, my measured movements demonstrate to other regular
attendees my right to be there, to be given space. Like the DJ that per-
forms his claim to membership on the decks and the mic, the dance floor
4 S. RAINE
offers me a way into and through the scene. My competency is expressed

by this insider style and my understanding of the rules of space, through
my knowledge of lyrics sung out loud as I dance.
The record crackles to an end and I move back to my seat on the edge.
I watch as a well-known label is displayed on the screens above the stage,
calling men and women to the floor. It requires no introduction, yet the
DJ belts out a familiar foreword, hurried on by the unspoken yet palpable
anticipation of a full dance floor. The instrumental breaks of this “north-
ern soul classic” are echoed further by seemingly choreographed claps—a
call to arms of the insider—identifying those who don’t quite know
enough, responses too slow or retrospective, too early, too many. Those
out of the music stutter in their movements as their mistimed clap echoes
across the room, while the others are bound together in a staccato waltz.
With their bags and coats, with their steps and their spins, a handshake
or a shouted salutation, those that enter the hall for this northern soul
event claim not only physical space but their right to be there, to take up
that chair or that area of the dance floor. A claim that is reiterated through-
out the night, by slight dips of the head, an extension of a hand, a leg, a
lull, a clap, a moment for catching your breath. Those who do it out of
turn stand out: sore thumbs in the harmonious movement of this cultural
space; an outsider in an underground community; a stranger in a room full
of friends.
References
Raine, S. (2016). We Share the Floor. Litro #156: Movement.
Schütz, A. (1951). Making Music Together: A Study in Social Relationship. Social
Research, 18(1), 76–97.
CHAPTER 2
“Going To A Happening”
At the Peak of the Night

One of the biggest nights of the northern soul calendar, The King’s Hall
Allnighter in Stoke on Trent attracts soul fans from across the UK, and
tonight is no different. Slowly filling with those delayed by long journeys,
the dance floor in the main room is now packed. Those too late to claim a
seat have begun to stand along the edge of the floor. Sally, having done her
turn selling tickets on the door, smiles and waves frantically as she strides
purposefully to claim a space. In her fifties, Sally is one of the younger
members of the “original” generation. This group of people make up the
majority at the King’s Hall tonight and at most other venues in the north-
ern soul scene. Many make their journeys eager to tattoo out their love of
rare soul. They reconnect with old friends over a drink before striding out
onto the dance floor, some mid-conversation to the first bar of a favou-
rite record.
One of few women visibly involved in the organisation and running of
large, national events, Sally is well known off and on the dance floor. Her
duty at the door now done, she finds her place at the front next to the
speakers and launches into a smooth performance that she has refined
through decades of practice. The other dancers around her grant her space
in recognition of competence and her status within the scene, both of
which are viewed as indicators of a long-term participation. Such

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_2
6 S. RAINE
longstanding personal experiences of the scene are worn proudly and

respected by others.
Alongside Sally and other members of the “original” generation, young
men and women also pound the floor with serious faces. None fall into
standing onlookers alongside the side, worse for wear, or bump into other
dancers as they mark out their space. These competent performances have
been carved out at smaller events, on bedroom carpets and kitchen floors.
For most of the dancers in this hall it has been a process of trial and error,
hours spent watching at events and studying YouTube videos, clumsy
beginnings under the cover of busy dance floor and the darker corners of
venues. Three King’s Hall allnighters puncture a busy year of events, an
opportunity to “be seen” by soulies that travel here from across the UK
(and further afield).
John, aged twenty-seven, is towards the back, but several rows of bod-
ies in; arms expressive, eyes closed, shouting out the words. A far cry from
the quiet newcomer sat alone on the balcony upstairs three years ago,
wondering how a space at the front could be earned. An expressive dancer,
few would guess that his ego is still in recovery from a cruel critique of his
dancing, handed out by others as he moved off the floor during a big
night such as this. And Esther in her early thirties, her first night here but
dancing right in the middle. Her years as a professional dancer, discussed
with me at great length in a studio last year, not on display as it would be
in her local venues in the West Midlands. Disco, ballet, street dancing all
stripped out for this, her debut at the King’s Hall: a performance of, in
Esther’s words as she consciously prepared for this moment, “pure north-
ern soul”. Like me, each has felt the eyes of knowledgeable onlookers as
they take to the floor, preparing for the one of the biggest nights in
the year.
From whispered mutterings as they pass people on their way off the
dance floor to aggressive confrontations, John, Esther and other young
people that I have spoken to over the last four years have been made aware
that their claim to belong hangs in the balance. The act of critiquing those
on the floor beside you, or sharing your critique with your neighbour, is
as much a part of northern soul dancing practices as the dancing itself.1
Young people, like any other dancer at northern soul events, are watched.
Their performance is judged, and their claim to space on the floor—or a
1
The importance of critique in relation to dancing within scene practices is also noted by
Mary Fogarty (2012) in her study of the multigenerational bboy and bgirl dance crews.
2 “GOING TO A HAPPENING” 7
place on the scene—are assessed and allocated by the others around them.
And like Sally, whose body and dance style lays claim to the mythologised
venues of the 1970s, younger dancers are not only judged by their perfor-
mance on the floor but by their age. John may have perfected a high kick,
but his playfulness and smiles on the floor at previous events had singled
him out as irreverent. It was not his competency, but his depth of knowl-
edge about and respect for the scene that was questioned. His knowledge
is also critically restricted by his age; his passion and dedication dismissed
by some as shallow retro recreation of the “original” and “true” experi-
ence of northern soul in the 1970s. John and other young people are told
that to truly understand and to engage meaningfully with the scene, they
must acknowledge the past. Within a community that is eager to maintain
control over its membership and form, younger men and women must
work harder to prove that their engagement is indeed as passionate and as
dedicated as those who have stomped the boards for fifty years.
A Moment to Catch Our Breath

Having attracted people to regular events across the UK for five decades,
the northern soul scene is a rich and complex community with practices,
stories, people, events, places, and music that have come to define it. It is
a music scene dedicated to DJs, record labels, demos, and acetates. A
canon of seven-inch singles provides the musical focus for events and prac-
tices, rather than the live performance of artists. It is an all-night dance
scene that continues to be dominated by attendees in their fifties and six-
ties, even though younger legs also grace the floor. With an economy built
upon rare and expensive records predominantly pressed in 1960s America,
the community still strongly rejects those who put money before the
music, or who attempt to place northern soul within mainstream culture.
Gone are the management teams and corporate ballroom venues of the
1970s, replaced instead by individual event organisers, many of whom
have been on the scene for decades, now enthusiastically spending their
time filling venues to hire—from civic buildings to leisure centres—and
charging entry fees only to “cover costs”.
On the night that I first pushed through those double doors and walked
into a hall of heat and of noise, I found something both exciting and inter-
esting. As the daughter of a mod-era parent, the northern soul scene
offered an extension to the records that I was already familiar with, and a
new dance style to learn in my appreciation of the music that filled my
8 S. RAINE
iPod. As a student of anthropology, it offered a world of rules and rituals

of the inside, from the explicit imposition of Original Vinyl Only (OVO)
at most events, to the subtle cycles of public performance and critique that
indicate scene membership and levels of knowledge.
We began this book with my own experiences of an allnighter at the
King’s Hall in Stoke on Trent.2 At the beginning of an event, I attempt to
claim my place through rituals and public performances, both in terms of
my use of the physical space of the venue (on the dance floor and around
its edge) and in my considered public demonstrations to belong. A dancer,
these claims are primarily made on the polished wooden floor at the centre
of the hall, and a place which lies at the heart of northern soul practices.
As Nicola Smith notes in her study of the scene, such public events offer a
stage for the demonstration of knowledge through dancing, DJing, talk-
ing to other attendees, leafing through records, and developing a social
network.3 But as my own experience attests, these places are also arenas of
critique and contestation where claims to belong are demonstrated and
tested. The very layout of the northern soul event facilitates these pro-
cesses of performance and critique, the tables around the edge placed on
an angle to allow for a good view of the floor from most seats.
Similar claims to space and membership are also made by Rachel, Emma
and the others who walk through the door, and by Sally, John, and Esther
who take to the floor. Like me, each person knows that their actions in the
public spaces of the scene will be observed and critiqued in relation to
their perceived knowledge of, and therefore claim to, the scene. Yet in
addition to their competency, these claims are judged differently by those
around them based upon the age and by the gender of the dancer, DJ,
record collector, or event organiser.
The performance of history is central to the contemporary scene.
Records from previous decades are introduced to those gathered at public
events in terms of their scene history by the DJ in their role of emcee, the
value of the record justified through both monetary and symbolic worth.
2
An “allnighter” is an event that runs from eight or nine in the evening until six the fol-
lowing morning. It was a term also used by the mod scene to talk about and advertise their
events (as noted by Wilson 2019). Similarly, an “alldayer” normally runs from midday or one
in the afternoon until eleven at night. A “soul nite” will run from eight or nine until eleven
or midnight. Alldayers and soul nites are considered by the young people within this study
to be the place of choice for those not really “on the scene” who do not have the stamina or
the passion for the music necessary for all-night dancing.
3
Smith, “Parenthood and the Transfer of Capital in the Northern Soul Scene”.
2 “GOING TO A HAPPENING” 9
And dancers continue to stomp out steps developed on the dance floors of
venues long since demolished. These performances of a northern soul his-
tory are a means to claim membership, and to deny the claims of others.
These acts are central to the happenings of contemporary allnighters.
Equally, a performance of personal history within the scene has become
crucial to public demonstrations of membership. More than just one chap-
ter within the life of northern soul scene and music, the past has become
central to the ways in which the scene and its members are defined.
Certain experiences, narratives, and ways of engaging with scene prac-
tices have come to demarcate the northern soul inside. These are not static
but included or excluded as the northern soul style through processes of
intense debate by members of the scene. As this book will demonstrate,
these contestations of “authenticity” are a generational issue. If we begin
with the dance floor, it becomes apparent that in redrawing the boundar-
ies of the scene with ageing bodies in mind, northern soul dancing has
become more than physical movements. As Smith observes, “dancing in a
knowledgeable, practiced fashion, alongside people who have known you
for many years, has become significant.”4 The frenetic dance floors of
1970s venues now offer tools to authenticate a dancer like Sally: from old
friends to footwork, both forged at a particular venue and visible as such
to the discerning eye. For those who can claim to have “been there”, defi-
nitions of the “true soulie” centre around “a unique subjectivity…that the
newcomer cannot possess”: a personal and youthful experience of the his-
toric scene.5 The dance floor provides a public stage for the demonstration
of a knowledgeable engagement with the scene, but the ability to critique
the engagements of others is another means through which to demon-
strate membership and to claim a particular subjectivity.
With all this in mind, I wish to make a bold claim. Participating in the
northern soul scene is more about the ritual of placing a bag on the floor
at an event than it is about the north of England, spectacular acrobatics or
excessive drug use. As we shall see, these northern soul geographies and
practices (amongst others) have become central to the dominant narra-
tives of northern soul. They are also central to ways in which researchers
have come to define northern soul experience and history. In the pages
that follow, I demonstrate that these narratives have become a discursive
tool in claiming to belong. What people do and say on the northern soul
4
Smith, “Parenthood and the Transfer of Capital in the Northern Soul Scene,” 161.
5
Smith, “‘Time Will Pass You By,’” 189 (italics in the original).
10 S. RAINE
scene are acts of claiming space. The strict etiquette of the dance floor, and
the dominant ways in which dance performances are valued, do not mean
that “soulies dance in the same manner to this song as they have always
done” (as Smith argues), but rather that these rules and notions of “tradi-
tion” make meaningful certain actions and narratives.6 These dominant
ways of doing and saying northern soul work to keep certain people out
and to maintain the claims and the space of others.
I am interested in the ways in which people within multigenerational
music scenes claim to be members, particularly those who do not fit within
the discursive boundaries of the “true” insider. Through an immersive
ethnography, this book therefore explores these issues of generational
claims among northern soul participants, primarily focusing on the experi-
ences of women and men aged 18–32. As the title suggests, this book is
about notions of authenticity and belonging, identity and history.
References
Fogarty, M. (2012). “Each One, Teach One”: B-Boying and Ageing. In A. Bennett
& P. Hodkinson (Eds.), Youth Cultures: Music, Style and Identity (pp. 53–65).
London: Berg.
Smith, N. (2006). “Time Will Pass You By”: A Conflict of Age: Identity Within
the Northern Soul Scene. In C. Baker, E. Granter, R. Guy, et al. (Eds.),
Perspectives on Conflict (pp. 176–195). Manchester: University of Salford.
Smith, N. (2012). Parenthood and the Transfer of Capital in the Northern Soul
Scene. In A. Bennett & P. Hodkinson (Eds.), Ageing and Youth Cultures:
Music, Style and Identity (pp. 159–172). London: Berg.
Wilson, A. (2019). Searching for the Subcultural Heart of Northern Soul: From
Pillheads to Shredded Wheat. In S. Raine, T. Wall, & N. W. Smith (Eds.), The
Northern Soul Scene. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
6
Smith, “‘Time Will Pass You By,’” 176.
CHAPTER 3
“Let’s Talk It Over”
Getting Into It: A Soul Nite in Staffordshire

Up a set of pine stairs, hand stamped, and niceties exchanged with the
middle-aged lady on the door, I walk into a small but crowded room. A
brightly lit bar to the left, the first floor of this social centre is a miniature
version of larger events I have attended, with tables and chairs running
alongside the edges of the hall and the DJ elevated slightly above the
dancers on a temporary stage. With no bag to safely stow away, having
travelled light, we head straight to order a drink. The familiar introductory
bars of a record fill the room and I notice a glint of panic rise in my boy-
friend’s eyes. Sighing, I reach a hand out for his coat. He smiles, relieved
to have been freed from his commitment to queue with me, now able to
heed the siren call of a favourite record that will not be played twice
tonight. He makes his way through the people stood watching and onto
the dance floor.
This is my local “soul nite”, held in a social centre in a neighbouring
Staffordshire town. With a very small carpark nestled around the corner
from the venue, the established red-brick building stands on the edge of a
busy high street. Strangely enough, small events such as this were not my
easy way into the scene, but rather became part of my northern soul cal-
endar after a couple of years attending national allnighters. For me, the
small dance floors and lack of other young people were more unnerving
than the anticipation and preparation necessary for larger events. At the

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_3
12 S. RAINE
beginning of this research, I naively thought that weekends spent observ-

ing and interviewing at allnighters could be balanced out by a Monday of
rest. Sadly, this was not to be. On Monday, everyone else returns to work,
the emails begin again and meetings are organised. Exhausted by my aca-
demic and scene roles, smaller events such as our local soul club seemingly
offered a manageable and relaxed opportunity to ‘keep my hand in’.
Running from eight-thirty in the evening until midnight, events such as
this acted as a regular break from the allnighters. And so, with minimal
preparation and effort, my boyfriend and I were able to voyage fifteen
minutes up the road for a bit of soul.
As I wait my turn to be served, I acclimatise to the heat of the room and
shrug off my jacket. We are the only two people in the room under the age
of fifty. A patient crowd of middle-aged men surround the wooden strip of
the bar, negotiating an easy order of service by smiles and waves of “you
next”. Sent by wives seated next to windows, open for a cooling summer
breeze, they seem in no rush to return. Familiar faces offer a series of
potential conversations, about the last record, the last event, an enjoyable
mapping of common acquaintances. I can’t remember a night bereft of a
conversation with a stranger; at the brightly lit bar, in the queue for wrist-
bands at large events, or on the side of the dance floor. These are the
places where casual, but codified, exchanges tend to happen, and tonight
is no different.
“Having a good night?”, the well-worn icebreaker at these events
voiced by a man in his late fifties, a face that seems vaguely familiar. I smile
and say that we have just arrived, but it’s boding well, nodding to my
boyfriend dancing at the back of the floor. I wait for the next question that
has become the subsequent stage of these exchanges. “So, how did you
get into northern soul, then?” A supportive question of relaxed curiosity,
but also a means to make sense of me: a woman in her late twenties, but
also an unfamiliar face at a small, local event. Unlike larger allnighters, I
understand that my connection to the scene can be easily explained here
with a wave of the hand towards the direction of my boyfriend’s father,
dancing frantically at front of the room, and well known in Staffordshire
soul circles. Typically, I do not seek out these exchanges as part of my
scene engagement. Some people will happily spend hours talking in the
brightly lit spaces of bars and record stalls, oiled by a pint or two, or per-
haps even the chemical stimulation of amphetamines. I feel more comfort-
able on the floor or watching the dancers. Nevertheless, and mindful of
my research, I encourage him.
3 “LET’S TALK IT OVER” 13
Practised through other such conversations, I set out my own introduc-

tion to the scene and list the events I especially enjoy. I am attentive to the
influential networks of DJs, record sellers, event organisers, and well-
known “dancers” as they have explanatory power in these situations.
Through this weaving of an overlapping web of common acquaintances
and places, we make sense of each other’s participation. After ten minutes
of this sharing of northern soul experience on the current scene, ‘Steve’
seems content with this explanation of my sudden appearance at this soul
nite and begins a recount of his own experience with a lamentation—“The
scene’s not like it was. You can’t even imagine the excitement. You have to
remember”, he implores, “that the 1970s was a time before mobile phones
and comfortable cars. We had to get together on a Friday night in the local
café to decide which nights to attend, how we would get there, and how
to get the gear. And this is all before you arrived, before you stepped into
the Casino, a place that could be as dangerous as it was exciting: a venue
with dark corridors and out-of-the-way bathrooms. And I was lucky, being
from Stoke. I knew a lot of the drug dealers and scary bastards. You can’t
even compare it now.” I nod thoughtfully as he carries on. “In all aspects.
From the music to the drugs, the excitement has been lost from the scene.
We used to hear new records every weekend, dance until we dropped, and
then have to thumb-it all the way back to Stoke. It’s a good laugh now,
but a town hall full of old people cannot compare with the rush of a dance
floor packed with young lads, all passionate about the music and deter-
mined to do what they could to make it every weekend.”
He looks thoughtfully across the rather sedate floor, “We all keep on
keeping on, but the passion and the excitement of that time has been lost.
I think it was so exciting because we were escaping, you know? It was a
hard time, the seventies. But in northern soul we had something new,
something that was shared amongst a small number of people, people that
were bored with the shit music in the charts. But that sense of excitement,
of discovery, has been lost. Now you can look it all up on the internet;
music, singers, records. You can drive with a Satnav to events that have
popped up all over the country, use a mobile phone to organise your
friends. And when you get there, it’s full of old blokes, like me, venues
with clean bathrooms, the dance floors lit up by people taking photos and
filming. Northern soul isn’t how it used to be.”
The bar-side chatter, indecipherable to all but those engaged in the
conversations, briefly becomes an audible hubbub in the pause between
records. DJs here don’t seem to emcee, so this break is short and lacking
14 S. RAINE
the voice of the DJ as he queues up the next 45. Steve’s amiable mono-
logue about getting to the Casino on a bus from Stoke is disrupted some-
what by my boyfriend’s return to the bar, unimpressed by the record now
playing. Undeterred, Steve takes the opportunity to begin the whole pro-
cess anew, my boyfriend’s entry into the scene streamlined by two parents
“on the scene” and his well-known father. “It’s nice,” Steve concludes,
“to see young couples enjoying the music. I’ll probably see you around.
Keep the faith!” As we walk over to find a seat at the side, the room feels
friendlier and more open. People smile as we pass by and a couple wave us
over to two free seats, moving the empty glasses on the table to one side.
Too close to the speakers to chat, each of us signal to the others that we
would if we could. As it is, we sit in amiable companionship and listen to
the music until we are moved to dance.
Negotiating a Place: The Record Stands at Rugby

A venue large enough for a main and a smaller room, the Rugby Soul Club
Allnighter at the Benn Hall can in part thank its geographical location for
its position as one of key points in the scene calendar. Attracting people
from the London scene as well as the Midlands and the North, a range of
tastes are catered for by the diverse DJ line-up across the two rooms play-
ing the sixties American R&B, “crossover”, northern soul “Top 500
anthems”, and (less frequently) “funky-edged soul”.1 Unlike many other
venues, the bar can be found in a third room along the foyer corridor or
through a door at the back of the main room. Here, in addition to an
ever-busy bar selling cheap drinks in plastic glasses, record sellers set up
temporary stalls of record boxes, organised by cardboard dividers.
Like the other allnighters that I have attended here, the bar is packed
tonight by midnight. Filled with collectors taking their time to sift through
1
This terminology has been developed within the scene to differentiate different types of
records played at northern soul events. As such, they emerge out of discussions about differ-
ent understanding of “northern soul”, the scene, and its members. The significance of
“funky-edged soul” for younger members of the scene is discussed in Chaps. 7 (143), and 8
(164). The term “crossover” is used within the scene by different groups to define a particu-
lar sound. According to some, “crossover” records are those that were recorded at the begin-
ning of the 1970s, moving from R&B into the popular music of the time and later disco. For
others, the term includes records that were produced in the 1970s but based upon the
sounds of the previous decade. In any case, they are seventies records that tend to have less
of a pounding beat and more harmonious vocals.
the singles on sale, yet most know that a true bargain is more likely on
eBay or at house clearance sales; the sellers here too savvy to make a mis-
take on pricing. As usual, a couple of chairs have been placed at the centre
of the room, providing a rare space to chat amidst the bar-side exchanges
and focused searches of those around you. Flyers and record catalogues
festoon the small, low table much like those in the other rooms, but here
rarely do they win much attention. This room is dedicated to records and
intense conversation. The bright lights, comfortable chairs, and compara-
tive oasis of calm provides a place within which discussions can stretch for
hours. Indeed, for some people this is their temporary home for the night,
the dance floor pulling them very rarely into its sweaty and noisy embrace.
Their central engagement with the scene is not pounded out on a polished
wooden floor or performed through a carefully chosen set-list. For some
people, it is the conversation that they look forward to. More elaborate
and longer conversations are made possible in places such as this.
Bobby, nineteen and one of the youngest DJs on the scene, has increas-
ingly spent his time in this room rather than out on the floor. At first, the
records were too strong a pull for an avid collector, but as his profile as an
up-and-coming DJ developed, his journeys around the room were increas-
ingly stalled by handshakes and introductions. This room, and others like
it in different venues, became a key networking opportunity for Bobby,
bringing together individuals who may hold in their hands a breakthrough
set at a national event, or the introduction to a rare vinyl seller with envi-
able contacts in the US. Increasingly, Bobby could be found on one of
these seats in the centre of the bar—surrounded by records and at the
audible edge of the main room—engrossed in conversation for
hours on end.
As a younger member of the scene, and one with increasing public vis-
ibility, older men (primarily, but not always, fellow record collectors and
DJs) were keen to pass their knowledge on to Bobby. The topic of these
exchanges may be records or DJing, but the wider significance of these
objects, practices, people and events were emphasised through a recount-
ing of the history of the scene. Much like the emcee introduction of a
record over the microphone at events, a one-to-one conversation about
records on the northern soul scene is narrated through a complex history
of origins—where certain singles were first played, by whom, how many
original pressings exist, previous sales, and so on—all essential knowledge
required by an aspiring DJ. During these conversations with Bobby, older
men critiqued current events and the DJ line-ups on offer in reference to
16 S. RAINE
the long history of venues stretching from the 1970s that they had them-
selves experienced. Like my chat with Steve in Staffordshire, these conver-
sations follow familiar patterns and happen all the time as part of one’s
night out. According to Bobby, time and again these older DJs return to
their original experiences at venues in the 1970s in order to underline
what they consider to be the golden years of the scene, a time during
which the central practices of northern soul were developed and refined.
Importantly, all of this was discussed also in critique of the current scene.
“If you want to be a DJ”, Bobby is told by the proprietors of northern
soul, “you need to have this particular knowledge that all the best DJs
possess. As you are too young to have experienced the past, I will share my
own knowledge with you. The scene now may be shadow of its former
self, but you at least can attempt to keep the traditions of northern
soul alive.”
These conversations are a central part of Bobby’s engagement, and
indeed contribute to his status within the scene. As a well-known younger
DJ, Bobby is always described by older members of the scene as “respect-
ful” and “knowledgeable”. Indeed, he seeks out these conversations and
applies the information that he has gained from them in his claims to
membership, most explicitly through his ability (and indeed decision) to
emcee during his DJ sets.2 Like Bobby, each of the young people I spoke
to described similar conversations with the older men on the scene. In the
queue for the bar, on the pavement outside for a cigarette break, or on the
edge of the dance floor, during these encounters knowledge about the
scene is passed on from the older generation to subsequent newcomers. As
we shall see, these conversations also make clear and reiterate social hier-
archies. At the bar in Staffordshire, the record stalls at Rugby, and all the
northern soul places in-between, this common and repeated interaction
between older and younger participants forms a central part of scene expe-
riences. They are also indicative of power dynamics that relate to issues of
generation and gender.
Power Dynamics in a Multigenerational Music Scene

The northern soul scene is striking in the way it has not only survived fads
and fashion of youth culture, but that it continues to attract new members
throughout its fifty years. Many of the young people who contributed
2
The significance of Bobby’s decision to emcee and the ways in which he has developed his
practice is discussed at greater length in Chap. 8 (183–188).
their experiences to this book see the launch of the Kings Hall allnighters
by the insider-run promotor, Goldsoul, in Stoke on Trent in 1996 as indic-
ative of a resurgence in scene membership.3 These 9 pm to 6 am events, in
a 2000-capacity venue, were filled with returning original members (now
released from parental responsibilities), bringing with them a second gen-
eration of “soul children”, in addition to other newcomers, eager to
explore something different.4 Additionally, the scene has increasingly had
an international cultural resonance, with events and communities across
Europe, and certain cities in Japan, North and South America, and
Australia.5 The influence of British immigrants within these communities
is significant but not always central.6
As a participant at northern soul events since 2012, I have seen a sig-
nificant increase in attendees in their teens and twenties over the past four
years. For example, at the beginning of my own participation, only thirty
or forty young people regularly attended the Kings Hall Allnighter in
Stoke on Trent, each identifiable to me by face if not by name. Towards
the end of my research, the same event attracted a significantly higher
number of young attendees, many of whom I did not recognise, even after
three years of ethnographic research. Today, they make up perhaps ten per
cent of attendees at Stoke, and often up to a third of participants at other
events. This latest wave of new scene membership amongst the younger
generation has been aided by the 2014 feature-length film Northern Soul
and scene use of social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.7 Both
the film and social media provide a “way in” for many of the young people
3
This promotional and event management company was set up and continues to be run by
Kev Roberts, a long-time DJ and record collector on the scene.
4
The term “soul children”: was coined by Nicola Smith, “Parenthood and the Transfer of
Capital in the Northern Soul Scene,” in Ageing and Youth Cultures: Music, Style and Identity,
ed. Andy Bennett and Paul Hodkinson (London: Berg, 2012), 159–172.
5
The scene in Perth, Australia, has been documented in Paul Mercieca, Anne Chapman
and Marnie H O’Neill, To the Ends of the Earth (Lanham, MD: University Press of
America, 2013).
6
For example, my own observations made at three northern soul events in Spain and the
inclusion of a Spanish-born woman within this study demonstrate that a Spanish soul follow-
ing developed during in the post-Franco period, with ideas, records, events and imagery
shared through a zine network from the 1980s until online platforms became the primary
forum for sharing information. Events run by the British expat community are attended by
Spanish individuals and some include sets by Spanish DJs, but the most regular events are
organised by and run for Spanish fans of rare soul.
7
Elaine Constantine, Northern Soul. Film. London: Baby Cow Productions, 2014.
18 S. RAINE
who contribute to this study, offering those people on the “outside” a

means to discover the existence of the scene and to connect with other
like-minded people online before they even step foot inside a venue.8 This
book explores how the experiences of the younger generation question
the narratives constructed by older members, which have come to define
northern soul. It tracks the ways in which people experience the past, what
this engagement with existing histories does in relation to claims to
belong, and how history is narrated and experienced differently by those
who have different claims to it.
The conversations that Bobby and I experienced repeat themselves
throughout the engagement of other young people on the northern soul
scene. These conversations work on two levels. They are a dynamic
between two individuals during which their insider participation is mapped
out in relation to the other, with similarities jumped upon and celebrated.
And on another level, they offer men like Steve a means to assert their
comparative claim to scene membership and, through repetition, to subtly
structure and collectively control the scene. What is interesting in the con-
versations that I have, and those that young people like Bobby experience,
is the ways in which the hierarchies of the scene are engrained within
them, highlighting issues of membership: namely, who is included and
who is excluded within this structuring of the scene. They are processes of
participation, of exclusion and inclusion. As I will argue, this structuring is
also replicated in many of the academic studies of northern soul.
My access to the northern soul scene as a popular music researcher was
made possible by my engagement with the scene as an insider. I learnt to
dance through observation and practice in order to feel comfortable as a
participant at events and as a means to claim my physical space on the
dance floor. Later, this insider skill became key not only as a public dem-
onstration of my membership, but also essential to my “way in” as an
ethnographer. People like Steve, who float on the periphery of this study,
engaged with me as they would any other young person on the scene. For
the young people that I was keen to speak to at events, my ability to dance
competently eased any apprehension they might have felt at being involved
8
I have also discussed the role that the film and social media play in these “ways in” for
younger members of the scene in two previous publications: Sarah Raine and Tim Wall,
“Myths On/Of the Northern Soul Scene”, in The Northern Soul Scene, ed. Sarah Raine, Tim
Wall and Nicola Watchman Smith (Sheffield: Equinox, forthcoming); Mark Duffett, Sarah
Raine and Tim Wall, “The Voice of Participants on the Scene”, in The Northern Soul Scene,
ed. Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman Smith (Sheffield: Equinox, forthcoming).
in academic research. And away from the dance floor, my knowledge of

the history of the scene, of obscure Blues & Soul references, and my inter-
actions with the scene’s good, great and infamous all changed the dynamic
of interviews to a mutual and positive sharing of experience.
The conversation I had with Steve is not one provoked by a researcher.
It is a conversation that he will have all the time, at different events and
with different people that he meets along the way. It is also one that I have
experienced many times before, an exchange in a multigenerational music
scene, an exchange between an older man and younger participant.
Although we stood on the edge of dance floor in a small community cen-
tre in a rural Staffordshire market town in the twenty-first century, these
memories of the Casino in the 1970s are the scene experiences that Steve
wished to pass on to me. People my age are, as Steve noted, “the next
generation of northern soul”, their passion for the scene undisputed as
they travel the length and breadth of the country to attend allnighters. Yet
this dedication must also be shown through an unquenchable thirst for
knowledge of the “golden age” of northern soul, accessible to young peo-
ple through the stories of Steve and other men who are keen to share.
The story that Steve tells me in this conversation about northern soul
in the 1970s is both an act of welcome and a highlighting of scene hierar-
chy in which my own place is prescribed. As he walks away from the bar,
pint in hand, Steve is happy in the knowledge that he has educated another
young northern soulie. By listening attentively, I have played my own part,
demonstrating my respect for the historic scene and making my own claim
to be a dedicated member, albeit to (these stories suggest) a tamed and
less authentic version of northern soul. As I stood in this community cen-
tre in Staffordshire (or a working men’s club in Wigan, or a student union
bar in central London) a lesson in the history of the scene was passed on
to me by older men, intrigued by my attendance but keen to make sure
that I knew the “facts”. As we shall see in the discussion that follows, the
same stories, ready-made answers told by different men in different cities
etch in a shared history, to be remembered and passed on. And through a
reiteration of the significance of the historic scene that lie at the heart of
these conversations, proclaimed members of the “original generation”
impress upon comparative newcomers the inherent limitations to their
claim to space.
The story that Steve tells me about the 1970s is therefore part of an
iterative process. This dynamic is a repeated theme through all the ethno-
graphic evidence that follows. These processes of participation, of
20 S. RAINE
exclusion and inclusion, are not restricted to what people say but include
also what they do. Older men like Steve appear throughout the pages of
this book as judgemental voices and historians of the scene. They appear
as DJs and emcees, dance competition judges and influential record deal-
ers. They speak and act from a particular and influential position on the
scene, and as such their words and actions hold a level of gravitas devel-
oped through their knowledge and experience. My own access to this
evidence and a nuanced understanding of these practices and issues relates
to my reflexive engagement with insider/outsider roles. As these roles
intersect, I asked different questions as I reflected upon my experiences
and attempt to make sense of individual engagement in relation to social
processes. I ask, for example, what do these conversations achieve in rela-
tion to claims to membership, rather than what do they tell us about the
northern soul past. In doing so, I question the assumptions about north-
ern soul that other researchers have made and ask the questions that they
have not asked. As will become clear, by asking these different questions
issues of generation and gender become apparent, issues that have been
missed by previous scholars.
Claiming to Belong
The fetishising of youth by popular music researchers in particular has
been questioned in a series of early stand-alone studies such as Andy
Bennett’s piece on ageing punks, Ross Haenfler’s mapping of the straight
edge scene, and Samantha Holland’s study of alternative femininities and
ageing.9 More recently the experience of older music scene participants
have become the focus for edited collections dedicated to “ageing youth
cultures”.10 The northern soul scene is just one of several multigenera-
tional music-focused communities within the UK. From hard house to
skinhead reggae, punk to bounce, mod to northern soul, women and men
in their forties, fifties and sixties are continuing what Andy Bennett and
Jodie Taylor describe as “scenic identities, lifestyles and practices” into
9
Andy Bennett, “Punk’s Not Dead: The Continuing Significance of Punk Rock for an
Older Generation of Fans,” Sociology 40, no. 2 (2006): 219–235. doi:https://doi.
org/10.1177/0038038506062030.; Ross Haenfler, Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth,
Hardcore Punk, And Social Change (New Brunswick, NH: Rutgers University Press, 2006).;
Samantha Holland, Alternative Femininities: Body, Age and Identity (Oxford: Berg, 2006).
10
For example, Andy Bennett and Peter Hodkinson ed., Ageing and Youth Cultures:
Music, style and identity (London: Berg, 2012).
their adult lives.11 In dedicating chapters, books and journal articles to

these practices of ageing music fans, a long cultural association between
music scene participation and youth is questioned.
In the academic literature on northern soul, the experiences of its older
members dominate, but it is memories of their youthful experiences rather
than their contemporary actions that have been the focus of academic
interest. When the multigenerational nature of the contemporary scene is
explicitly acknowledged by Nicola Smith and Lucy Gibson, it is again
explored through the reflections of this “original” generation on “their”
changing scene.12 There are two issues evident within this particular schol-
arship. Firstly, the experience of one group has come to define our schol-
arly understanding this multigenerational music scene. And secondly, in
focusing solely on this generation, researchers have become entangled in
scene discourses of authenticity, particularly relating to the “true soulie”.
By focusing on the “authentic” participation of the original generation
and by attempting to document the historic rather than the current scene,
this research has become a part of, rather than a means to critically iden-
tify, processes of power and discourse. As such, scholarly writing on north-
ern soul has replicated dominant narratives and reiterated a certain
understanding of the boundaries of the northern soul scene.
Narratives about historic northern soul events and the vinyl that has
come to represent them play a central role in defining the boundaries of
the scene, both musically and in relation to scene practice. They also estab-
lish boundaries in relation to authentic membership. Participation in the
historic scene has come to represent a key means to claim to be a “true
soulie”, the importance of the past reiterated in the value of particular
practices, places (such as Wigan, Blackpool, and Stoke on Trent), venues,
DJs, records and people. Such narratives recall the 1970s as a “golden
age” of northern soul—a time when the scene was “underground” and
required a true level of dedication unaided by transport links, online access
to music, and the organisational tool of social media. This assigning of
value upon the scene past rather than its contemporary activities is also
evident in the research on northern soul, with most focused on the
11
Andy Bennett and Jodie Taylor, “Popular music and the aesthetics of ageing” Popular
Music 31(2012): 231–243.
12
Nicola Smith (2006, 2009, 2012). Lucy Gibson, “Nostalgia, symbolic knowledge and
generational conflict.” In the Northern Soul Scene, ed. Sarah Raine, Tim Wall, Nicola
Watchman Smith. Sheffield: Equinox, 2019.
22 S. RAINE
retrospective or contemporary experiences of the “original” generation,

the academic histories are also dominated by certain narratives crafted by
certain people—namely male DJs and the male historians of the scene that
are the subject of Chap. 5.13 In an extreme example, Barry Doyle writes
out totally the experiences of women, reiterating the dominant narrative
that the historic scene was “the province of the young working-class
male”.14 By focusing solely on one generation—and to a significant extent
on one gender—within a multigenerational music scene, the power that
these narratives assert in claims to membership of the contemporary scene
has not been sufficiently considered, and the experience that has been
documented has been a partial one.
Throughout this study, notions of “authenticity” and cultural “author-
ity” are considered as discursive constructions. I do not ask who is authen-
tic or who has the authority to speak. I ask how discourses of authenticity
and authority are used in individual claims to belong. By instead focusing
on belonging, a range of discursive strategies—to include authenticity and
authority—can be identified and explored.15 Rather than drawing a line
between the authentic/inauthentic or authoritative/unauthoritative, this
framing creates a space for the engagements of younger members within
the northern soul scene. And by beginning with a focus on claims to
belong, I am able to understand how music scenes draw the line between
inside and out through discursive practices. Most importantly, different
claims to belong, and therefore different discursive strategies, become
apparent.
Like a scanned photograph of the queue outside Wigan Casino shared
on Facebook, conversations like those that begin this chapter provide
young people with an enviable snapshot of an authentic time. A past char-
acterised by fast records and amphetamines, a golden era of the scene
before northern soul routines on Strictly Come Dancing and before
YouTube videos of the “Northern Soul Girl” claimed millions of views.
But hiding behind these affable exchanges of knowledge from an expert to
a comparative novice lies a strong claim to ownership, a type of
13
Examples of this can be found in Hollows and Milstone (1998), “Welcome to
Dreamsville”, Milestone (1997), “The Love Factory”, and Robinson (2013), “Keeping
the Faith”.
14
Barry Doyle, “More than a dance hall, more a way of life” (p. 317).
15
This draws upon David Hesmondhalgh, “Subcultures, Scenes or Tribes? None of the
Above,” Journal of Youth Studies 8, no. 1 (2005): 21–40, doi:https://doi.
org/10.1080/13676260500063652
involvement that remains inaccessible to newcomers. Northern soul, they

tell us, was a way of life, a rebellion against society in the 1970s, an authen-
tic attitude impossible to replicate. Although the older individuals within
this conversation recognise the dedication of the young people that they
see at a different allnighter every weekend, it is now “a hobby.”16 And
whilst keen to impart knowledge on to the younger generation of the
scene, of which Bobby and I am a part, Steve and other older men impress
upon their listeners the limits of their claim to belong as a young men
and women.
As the following chapters will demonstrate, and as this chapter has
already indicated in a purposeful use of pronouns, the northern soul dance
floor, DJ decks, and record stalls continue to be dominated by men, in
their fifties and sixties. People who have played northern soul at home, in
the car, and at parties for several decades now continue to hold influential
roles as DJs, record sellers, and event organisers. Equally, the historic scene
continues to be used to define the boundaries of the contemporary north-
ern soul community. An undeniably “northern soul” record is defined as
such by a history of being played and narrated by DJs at events. Dancers
are congratulated on their “traditional” spins or footwork, and DJs on a
style of emceeing that evokes earlier male “masters”. Those who claim the
right to define the history of the scene are predominantly male. As we will
explore in greater detail in Chap. 8, the gendered associations of northern
soul practices are key to internal power dynamics and, by extension, the
definitions of northern soul and the “true soulie” which have come to
dominate both the scene inside and outsider representations.
Apparent in all such public demonstrations of belonging is a perfor-
mance of and a claim to the past: through a friendship network that
stretches back decades; a recollection of the Wigan Casino; or footwork
developed on the dance floor at The Twisted Wheel. By viewing this
engagement with the past as a discursive practice, the wider social implica-
tions of what people do and say in claiming membership becomes appar-
ent. In terms of engaging as a member of the contemporary scene, it is
clear that the self-determining nature of northern soul has created a para-
doxical situation. Through these processes of defining and redefining the
histories and boundaries of the scene, young newcomers find it hard to
create a place for themselves, to construct an engagement that is
16
Personal correspondence with Dave (58), an “original” scene member, dated
March 2015.
24 S. RAINE
recognised by others as “authentic” without a personal claim to northern

soul in the 1970s. The voices of the younger generation “reframe” how
we understand the scene and the dominant voices. This book illustrates
how young people engage with histories constructed by and for particular
sections of the scene, and how they forge their own place.17 Through this
different framing of northern soul experience, we can track how processes
of authenticity, history and documentation work in routes to and through
scene membership.
References
Bennett, A. (2006). Punk’s Not Dead: The Continuing Significance of Punk Rock
for an Older Generation of Fans. Sociology, 40(2), 219–235. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0038038506062030.
Bennett, A., & Hodkinson, P. (Eds.). (2012). Ageing and Youth Cultures: Music,
Style and Identity. London: Berg.
Bennett, A., & Taylor, J. (2012). Popular Music and the Aesthetics of Ageing.
Popular Music, 31, 231–243.
Doyle, B. (2005). More than a Dance Hall, More a Way of Life: Northern Soul
Masculinity and Working-Class Culture in 1970s Britain. In A. Schildt &
D. Siegfried (Eds.), Between Marx and Coca-Cola: Youth Cultures in Changing
European Societies 1960–1980 (pp. 313–328). Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Duffett, M., Raine, S., & Wall, T. (2019). The Voice of Participants on the Scene.
In S. Raine, T. Wall, & N. W. Smith (Eds.), The Northern Soul Scene.
Sheffield: Equinox.
Gibson, L. (2019). Nostalgia, Symbolic Knowledge and Generational Conflict. In
S. Raine, T. Wall, & N. W. Smith (Eds.), The Northern Soul Scene.
Sheffield: Equinox.
Haenfler, R. (2006). Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and
Social Change. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Holland, S. (2006). Alternative Femininities: Body, Age and Identity. Oxford: Berg.
17
This focus on marginal voices in order to understand wider processes is not a novel
approach. Historians such as E. P. Thompson, E. H. Carr, and Eric Hobsbawm amongst
others refocused their scholarly attention on “histories from below” in order to make sense
of national political and industrial changes. So, too, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural
Studies (CCCS) attempted to understand the post-War years of British society through the
actions of “sub-cultural” youth. In more recent studies on popular music, the work of the
CCCS has been critiqued, yet too often researchers continue to view individual music scenes
as coherent, collective marginal voices in opposition to an external mainstream society. Like
all communities, the northern soul scene has within it dominant and marginal groups.
Mercieca, P., Chapman, A., & O’Neill, M. H. (2013). To the Ends of the Earth:
Northern Soul and Southern Nights in Western Australia. Lanham: University
Press of America.
Raine, S., & Wall, T. (2019). Myths On/Of the Northern Soul Scene. In S. Raine,
T. Wall, & N. W. Smith (Eds.), The Northern Soul Scene. Sheffield: Equinox.
Smith, N. (2006). ‘Time Will Pass You By’: A Conflict of Age: Identity Within the
Northern Soul Scene. In C. Baker, E. Granter, R. Guy, et al. (Eds.), Perspectives
on Conflict (pp. 176–195). Manchester: University of Salford.
Smith, N. (2009). Beyond the Master Narrative of Youth: Researching Ageing
Popular Music Scenes. In D. B. Scott (Ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion
to Popular Musicology (pp. 427–445). Surrey: Ashgate.
Smith, N. (2012). Parenthood and the Transfer of Capital in the Northern Soul
Scene. In A. Bennett & P. Hodkinson (Eds.), Ageing and Youth Cultures:
Music, Style and Identity (pp. 159–172). London: Berg.
CHAPTER 4
“I Got Something Good”
Two Ballrooms in Blackpool
The Winter Gardens, February 2012

My first time in Blackpool and rain runs down the car windscreen. The
snatches that I can make out between the streaks of water are gaudily lit by
the neon lights of the famous pier, cloaked in a storm. People wrapped up
in grey and black, umbrellas straining against the wind, scuttle from bar to
bar on a mid-winter Saturday night. The final destination of a long and
squally drive, Blackpool is not really what I had imagined; not quite a
kitsch Whitby on steroids this evening. “Would you like me to drive around
a bit, seeing as this is your first time here?” “No point”, it seems, as the
raindrops engorge still further, bursting on the windows in a furious tor-
rent. A first “proper date” of sightseeing defeated, we park as close as we
can to the venue. Arriving at almost midnight, cars are parked down the
street on both sides, forcing us to make a dash for the door: our goal red-
lit amidst the deluge.
Sodden wet and not knowing what to expect, Charlie pulls me across
the patterned carpet of the foyer and towards a table staffed by two middle-
aged women. Their calls of “Ten pound in!” a slight distraction from the
music muffled by the double doors ahead. Buying two tickets, he advises
me not to let them fasten the neon wristband too tightly. A re-enacted
memory of humid days at hard house clubs, I place a finger between my

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_4
28 S. RAINE
wrist and the band as they secure it. Paid up and pleasantries exchanged,
Charlie leads me, bedraggled and not quite prepared, through the double
doors and into my first northern soul allnighter.
The room shrouds us in a blur of music and sweaty warmth. It is glori-
ous. The room itself a midsummer night’s dream, with elaborate carving
and high vaulted ceiling. Coloured lights flicker across the large wooden
dance floor and those upon it, gaudy chairs and tables positioned around
its edge. Both the dance floor and the seats are not quite full on this tem-
pestuous winter evening, but both seem imposing, a wide expanse of unfa-
miliar faces and bewildering movements to records that I’m sure I know.
A venue full of men and women, predominantly in their fifties and sixties,
with a few younger attendees dotted here and there. The queue for the bar
no different as we wait for our drinks, blissfully cheap for someone now
accustomed to living (somewhat briefly) in Cambridge.
Drinks bought, we find two spare seats close to the dance floor. Taking
a closer and more considered look around, the assemblage of the evening
is stranger than had I initially thought. A sense of order and of restraint
permeates despite the pounding music, a far cry from the exciting yet per-
ilously unpredictable chaos of a hard house event, the baseline of my club-
bing experiences to-date. From the men gathering around the bar to the
dancers in the dappled light of the wooden floor, it becomes clear that
neither is this a drunken revelry of a night on the tiles. It is place of cen-
tred concentration. People move around this hall in a considered manner.
When not dancing, they trace paths along the edge of the dance floor. And
when they do dance it seems a series of elegant near-misses, the body of
one perilously close to another before they propel off in different direc-
tions. There are patterns to this, the movements on the dance floor and
the strict etiquette around its edge, but, bewildered by so many new things
all at once, I cannot quite decipher them.
Each of the dancers seems to me polished and controlled. And although
its rules elude me, a stiffness of the upper body and perpendicular move-
ments around the floor make for a distinctive dance style. At first glance,
it seems effortless, but a quick shuffling attempt under the table proves
that it is not. The first to get on the dance floor at other events, I hold
back. The central wooden floor is too exposed. It is the central focus of the
large hall, all tables and chairs angled to provide a better view, the volume
of the sound system making conversation impossible.
Watching, it seems, is what you do when you don’t dance. Not wanting
to embarrass myself on a dance floor that I cannot read, I am satisfied
4 “I GOT SOMETHING GOOD” 29
tonight with watching. But as a dancer, the hours sat on the side watching
Charlie and the others pass frustratingly slowly. The novelty of just watch-
ing is already wearing off, but from the lack of other beginners on the
floor, I know that my first tentative steps will not be made here, under the
full glare of the lights and in the centre of this imposing ballroom. If I
want to be a part of this, to step like they do with confidence into the
music, these movements will need to be broken down, the style practised
until fluid, and new records learnt. Until then, my place is at the side and
out of the way, to watch in keen-eyed admiration and to find a quiet place,
to dedicate time to begin the process of dancing like they do.
The evening passes in a confusing blur of new sights, sounds, and smells
to ponder. Unlike the later nights that become etched in my mind, each
table and record firmly fixed and accessible when I come to recreate it, I
will struggle to remember the finer details of this evening. It is in this ball-
room that a seed of a research proposal is sown, but in the excitement of
discovering something new, of attempting to make sense of rules that I
cannot quite grasp, the minutiae darlings of ethnographic memory I will
shortly nurture fade and muddle together. Snippets of storms and cars,
lights and heat, curious dancers and familiar records linger on to provide
colour for this, my first step into the scene.
The Blackpool Tower Weekender, November 2016

My second time in Blackpool but this time it is icy rather than wet. Having
checked into a bargain family room at a dusky pink guest house around
the corner, we make our way onto the seafront road. Five o clock in the
evening and off to an allnighter; it feels strange to be out so early. Dancing
shoes in leather bags, cheap jackets chosen in case of a mishap, and pockets
stuffed with business cards and consent forms. It’s not just us this time,
my friend Beth has joined us for the night. An opportunity to dance and,
in what I am sure with be the harsh light of day, time for a photo shoot or
two tomorrow as we prepare for our northern soul exhibition.1 No guard
1
I co-curated an exhibition, All Because of You, on the younger generation of the scene
with Birmingham-based photographer, Bethany Kane, at the Parkside Gallery (Birmingham)
in January to February 2016. This event was one of several that we attended together in the
run-up to the event. The exhibition included extracts from my research and twenty-two
portraits of younger members of the scene. Information panels also considered our collab-
orative practice as researcher and photographer, and our own roles as scene insiders—
https://www.academia.edu/31009572/All_Because_of_You_Northern_Soul_Portraits
30 S. RAINE
up as we wander through the backstreets and onto the front at such an

early hour, the splintered yelling of a couple in mid-dispute stall us in our
tracks, momentarily. We gather ourselves and march on. Skirting around
them as they struggle and swear, I (now more surreptitiously) check my
iPhone as Google Maps directs us up the main street. Beth’s memory of
Rebellion Festival is an excellent back up, but clouded with the liquid fes-
tivities of a punk weekender.
Mercifully in through imposing front doors for wristbands and bag
checks. My boyfriend’s wide trousers are no longer novel enough for the
woman on the front desk, and she ushers us in without a second glance.
As the quiet hours of an alldayer merge into a busier allnighter, she must
have seen it all by now. Two thousand northern soulies are settled here,
having made their way up last night, weeks spent resting in preparation.
With less time and less money, it’s Saturday night for us and we are finally
back in Blackpool. Wristbands on, we scale the curving stairs up to the
main ballroom, each step bringing us closer to a new experience for us all:
The Blackpool Tower Weekender.
Another opulent dance hall to grow accustomed to. Like the King’s
Hall in Stoke on Trent, the main room is encircled by an imposing bal-
cony, the DJ dwarfed on a monstrous stage, large screens either side blaz-
ing down one record in mid-rotation, the other queued up ready. And it’s
packed. Ten-deep at the bar and all the seats taken. We squeeze through
the crowd to explore the rest of the rooms, hopeful that somewhere qui-
eter lies just around the corner. The excitement and anticipation of the
evening ahead creates a strange atmosphere. The night is prickled with a
competitive edge, a bravado that I have not felt at previous northern soul
events. Perhaps a precursor for the imminent dance competition, or maybe
a feeling that emerges when different soul clubs are brought together. I
push down this unease as we move away from the crowded main room.
Snaking through a wide corridor temporarily filled with make-shift DJ
decks playing reggae and R&B, people dancing for once on carpet, we
squeeze our way into the subterranean glamour of the Blackpool Tower
Circus. Pink-lit and a huge disco ball is suspended in the centre of
the room.
The line-up advertised on the event posters stuck around the venue sug-
gest that this room is synonymous with the “small” rooms of other large
events. The records played in here will be on the edge of the northern soul
canon, and normally spun by DJs lesser known on the scene. Having lost
Beth in our journey through the reggae room, Charlie and I cast our eyes
around and spot Tommy and Alice, sat in the tiered seating around the
central dance floor, and make our way up to them. We have a familiar
catch-up chat of events that we have recently attended, records bought,
and plans for our upcoming trip to Barcelona for a soul allnighter. We talk
from one DJ into the next, and while Alice and Tommy show no desire to
make a move onto the dance floor, a familiar beat demands my attention.
Unlike many “small” rooms, a big name now graces the decks: Colin Curtis.
Part of the line-up for the Golden Torch allnighters and later a resident
at the Blackpool Mecca, Curtis moved on from his northern soul days to
play electro, hip-hop and house music as it emerged from Chicago, pack-
ing out venues across the world. In spite of his fame on the scene, the
soulful house records that fill The Circus would be considered by many to
be at the very edge of “northern soul”. The first record is mixed into the
next as a continual loop of beat-matched music, this is at distinct odds
with the staunch northern soul practice of pauses between records. But I
know every tune. Each record features on our shared “House/Disco”
iTunes playlist, lyrics sung out loud as me and Charlie stumble down the
steps and onto the floor.
Conscious that I am at a northern soul weekender, rather than a house
night, I begin with the movements of the scene. The footwork I have
practised and adapted sped up or slowed down to fit with the slightly
unusual rhythm of soulful house; not quite the angular beat of northern
soul “classics”. But as I relax into the music, into the movement, as I find
my place on the floor, I begin to experiment with the form that I have
chosen. My northern soul footwork becomes less regular as I read the
music; one foot twisting, the other dragging, feet more released from
expectations of style than they have ever been at a northern soul event. A
faster section and I twist my feet together and move my arms in angular
opposition, channelling movements that I developed in hard house clubs
in my teens. My initial reservation of diverting from the expected style is
clouded by an elation that I haven’t felt since my last “break-through
moment” on the dance floor. The fusion that has so far alluded me between
the two styles now seamlessly possible as elements of house and soul come
together in music and in motion.
And for the first time on a northern soul dance floor I am given space.
Men and women move away, peering as they dance nearby at my alien
movements, at this blending of something they can identify with some-
thing they cannot. At first this makes me nervous, that they are judging
me, moving away from my flailing limbs, yet as I dance I realise that they
32 S. RAINE
are caught in northern soul, and it doesn’t quite fit. My movements are
fluid. They are in rather than outside the music.2 From the decks, Colin
Curtis plays on the very edge of northern soul, the links between his
records and the scene tentative and made possible only by his own history
within it. On the floor, I too blur the lines between inside and out. I
experiment with movement, but in doing so demonstrate my competency.
I feel like “a dancer”, made possible for the first time as we all teeter on the
edge of northern soul.3
Ways In4
Nancy, 19
I think I’ve always been interested in like sixties and seventies clothing, and
then when I turned eighteen, I was really excited to go clubbing and I
thought, “Oh, this is going to be great!” And then after a while, it had worn
off and I thought, there must be something else out there, that involves
what I’m wearing and what I feel and where I want to be. It just happened
[through] Instagram because I’d followed people who wore the same sort
of outfits and then looked at what they’re interested in, like the music. And
I met a girl called Sally and she’d gone to this allnighter, and then I realised
it was in Hinckley. She invited me to the Co-op allnighter and I went for the
first time. I just felt differently than I did about any other music and it made
me feel alive and I thought, “This is where I’m meant to be.” Yeah, ‘cause,
I mean, I hadn’t really looked any further than that and then I discovered it
from there. Some people say, “You found it online?” But I accept where we
are today and that it is about social media and that’s what the world is… I
used to be a bit embarrassed about things like that, but it is the twenty-first
century! It’s what we do and I can still be a part of something that I love,
even if it is included in things like that.
2
This idea of dancing “in” the music is also noted by Paul Sadot in his analysis of northern
soul dancing- Paul Sadot “‘I’m Still Looking for Unknowns All the Time’: The forward (e)
motion of northern soul dancing,” in The Northern Soul Scene, ed. Sarah Raine, Tim Wall,
Nicola Watchman Smith (Sheffield: Equinox, 2019).
3
This is a term used by people on the northern soul scene to describe an individual who is
known for their high level of dancing ability.
4
These extracts were taken from longer interviews 1–2 hour in length. They were edited
to produce a stand-alone narrative in which each young person discussed their way
in to northern soul, their claim to membership, and (in relation to this) the boundaries
of “northern soul”.
Most people that I’ve met either online or in person, their parents would
be into it and they’ve been brought up [with it]. And then there is a few
people that are just randomly, like, “I don’t really know how I got here.”
It’s just I feel more like myself now than I ever have and I do think that
social media does play a big part in [it], because I wouldn’t have found out
[otherwise]. I didn’t really know anyone that even liked to dress the same…
And then if I do look back through my [Instagram] posts, [I] have changed
quite a lot. I’ve seen more and I understand more about it, where before it
was an interest but it wasn’t who I [was] as a person. Whereas now, you
know, what I wear and how I look is who I am.
[W]hen I went to normal nightclubs, I felt that everyone’s there because
they either just want to get really drunk or because they’ve broken up with
their boyfriend. I don’t think they’re there because they love the music,
[whereas] if you go to an allnighter and listen to northern soul the main
reason that everybody is there [is] because the music makes them feel some-
thing and I think that’s sort of, like, lost… You know?
And it’s amazing because you just feel alive, and I love dancing. Dancing’s
always been something that is a hobby to me. I used to go dancing before
and then because obviously with uni and college, I had to leave that, so I feel
like northern soul is a way for me to get back that love of being on stage.
Because it is; everyone has their own little performance and you don’t dance
with people, you dance on your own and you’re alone on the dance floor.
That can be quite daunting when you first go, but I feel like it just releases
all the stress I’ve had in the week, it’s like just a way to let go of everything
in everyday life.
Levi, 21
Northern soul is my little secret. Like, when people ask me what I’m into, I
say I’m into soul. I don’t tend to say northern soul ‘cause I think there’s a
bit of a stigma attached to northern soul of, you know, people wearing poly-
ester and baggy trousers and dancing to this obscure, sort of sixties Motown
type stuff. It’s the enthusiast’s scene is what they tend to centre on and the
revival of something that was, and that’s what the media focusses on. It
highlights the stereotype of a revival movement, rather than what the soul
scene has become and I think it’s moved on to so much more than that. At
the end of the day, I’ve always said if you want to come for a night and wear
baggy trousers ‘cause you think they’re comfortable, fine, do it. I think it
just ends at that. Don’t do it because, oh, it’s what they wore at Wigan.
People spend like hundreds of pounds on like old bags with like the patches
on them. I’ve got a Fred Perry barrel [bag] and that’s my nighter bag,
‘cause it’s just a bag and it’s big and I can fit everything in it: it’s just
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realiseert, n.l. roeping, rechtvaardigmaking en verheerlĳking. Al deze
weldaden vallen in den tĳd; ook het ἐδοξασεν slaat niet op de
verheerlĳking na den dood of den dag des oordeels, maar blĳkens
den aoristus op de verheerlĳking, die de geloovigen in Paulus’ dagen
reeds op aarde ontvingen door de inwoning des Geestes, cf. 2 Cor.
3:18, en die in de glorificatie bĳ de opstanding ten jongsten dage
zich voltooit, 1 Cor. 15:53, Phil. 3:21. Zĳ worden in het geloof alle
tegelĳk aan de uitverkorenen geschonken, cf. ook 1 Cor. 6:11, maar
daarom bestaat er onder haar nog wel eene logische orde; en deze
wordt in den ordo salutis voorgesteld, cf. Gennrich, Studien zur
Paulin. Heilsordnung, Stud. u. Krit. 1898 S. 377-431.
§ 44. Roeping en Wedergeboorte.
1. Door Woord en Geest brengt God de schepping, en ook de

herschepping tot stand. Door te spreken, roept Hĳ alle dingen uit het
niet te voorschĳn. Gen. 1, Ps. 33:6, Joh. 1:3, Hebr. 1:3, 11:3; door
het woord zĳner almacht richt Hĳ de gevallene wereld weer op. Hĳ
roept Adam, Gen. 3:9, Abram, Gen. 12:1, Jes. 51:2, Israel, Jes. 41:9,
42:6, 43:1, 45:4, 49:1, Hos. 11:1, Jer. 31:3, Ezech. 16:6, en laat door
zĳne dienaren noodigen tot bekeering en leven, Deut. 30, 2 Kon.
17:13, Jes. 1:16v., Jer. 3, Ezech. 18, 33 enz., Rom. 8:28, 29, 2 Cor.
5:20, 1 Thess. 2:12, 5:24, 2 Thess. 2:14, 1 Petr. 2:9, 5:10 enz. Wĳl
deze roeping Gods in en door den Zoon tot de menschen komt en
Christus de verwerver der zaligheid is, wordt zĳ ook speciaal aan
Hem toegeschreven; gelĳk de Vader alle dingen door Hem schiep en
Hĳ toch ook zelf de Schepper aller dingen is, zoo is Hĳ ook zelf de
roepende, Mt. 11:28, Mk. 1:15, 2:17, Luk. 5:32, 19:10, die arbeiders
in zĳn wĳngaard uitstoot, Mt. 20:1-7, ter bruiloft noodigt, Mt. 22:2, de
kinderen vergadert als eene hen hare kiekens, Mt. 23:37, apostelen
en leeraars aanstelt, Mt. 10, 28:19, Luk. 10, Ef. 4:11, wier geluid over
de geheele aarde uitgegaan is, Rom. 10:18. Ofschoon de roeping
dus wezenlĳk van God of van Christus uitgaat, zoo bedient Hĳ zich
daarbĳ toch van menschen, niet alleen in den engeren zin van
profeten en apostelen, herders en leeraars, maar ook in het
algemeen van ouders en verwanten, van onderwĳzers en vrienden.
Zelfs komt er eene sprake tot ons uit al de werken van Gods
handen, uit de gangen der historie, uit de leidingen en ervaringen
van ons leven. Alles spreekt den vrome van God. Al geschiedt de
roeping in engeren zin ook door het woord des evangelies, deze
mag toch niet gescheiden worden van die, welke door natuur en
geschiedenis tot ons komt. Het verbond der genade wordt gedragen
door het algemeene verbond der natuur. Christus, die de middelaar
des verbonds is, is dezelfde, die als Logos alle dingen geschapen
heeft, die als licht in de duisternis schĳnt en verlicht een iegelĳk
mensch, komende in de wereld. God laat zich aan niemand
onbetuigd, maar doet goed van den hemel en vervult ook de harten
der Heidenen met spĳs en vroolĳkheid, Ps. 19:2-4, Mt. 5:45, Joh.
1:5, 9, 10, Rom. 1:19-21, 2:14, 15, Hd. 14:16, 17, 17:27. Er is
daarom allereerst eene vocatio realis te onderscheiden, die niet
zoozeer in duidelĳke woorden als wel in zaken (res), door natuur,
geschiedenis, omgeving, leidingen en ervaringen tot den mensch
komt, die niet tot middel heeft het evangelie maar de wet en door de
wet in gezin, maatschappĳ en staat, in religie en moraal, in hart en
geweten den mensch tot gehoorzaamheid en onderwerping roept, cf.
Synopsis pur. theol. 30, 2. 3. Mastricht, Theol. VI 2, 15. Witsius, Oec.
foed. III 5, 7-15. Marck, Theol. 17, 10. Moor III 386. 387. Deze
roeping is wel onvoldoende tot zaligheid, omdat zĳ van Christus en
zĳne genade niet weet en dus niemand kan leiden tot den Vader,
Joh. 14:6, Hd. 4:12, Rom. 1:16; de wereld heeft met haar toch in
hare dwaasheid en duisternis God niet gekend, Joh. 1:5, 10, Rom.
1:21v., 1 Cor. 1:21, Ef. 2:12. Maar zĳ is toch eene rĳke bemoeienis
van God met zĳn schepsel, een getuigenis van den Logos, eene
werking van den Geest Gods, die voor de menschheid van groote
beteekenis is. Aan haar is te danken, dat de menschheid in weerwil
van de zonde is kunnen blĳven bestaan, dat zĳ zich in gezinnen,
maatschappĳen en staten heeft georganiseerd, dat er nog een besef
van godsdienst en zedelĳkheid in haar is overgebleven en dat zĳ niet
weggezonken is in bestialiteit. Alle dingen bestaan te zamen in
Christus, die alles draagt door het woord zĳner kracht, Col. 1:16,
Hebr. 1:13. Bepaaldelĳk dient zĳ ook, om zoowel in het leven der
volken als in dat der bĳzondere personen voor de hoogere en betere
roeping door het evangelie den weg te banen. Christus bereidt als
Logos door allerlei middelen en wegen zĳn eigen werk der genade
voor. Hĳ trad daarom zelf op in de volheid der tĳden. Toen de wereld
God door hare wĳsheid niet heeft gekend, heeft het Gode behaagd,
door de dwaasheid der prediking zalig te maken, die gelooven, 1
Cor. 1:21. Het evangelie komt niet in eens tot alle volken, maar zet in
den weg der historie zĳn loop door de wereld voort; het komt ook bĳ
de bĳzondere personen in dat oogenblik, dat door God zelf in zĳne
voorzienigheid voorbereid en bepaald is.
Hoe belangrĳk deze vocatio realis echter ook zĳ, hooger staat de
vocatio verbalis, die niet alleen door de geopenbaarde wet maar
bepaald ook door het evangelie tot de menschen komt. Deze
roeping doet die door natuur en geschiedenis niet te niet, maar
neemt ze in zich op en bevestigt ze; alleen gaat zĳ er verre boven
uit. Immers is zĳ eene roeping, die niet van den Logos maar
bepaaldelĳk van Christus uitgaat; die niet zoozeer van de wet als wel
van het evangelie als eigenlĳk middel zich bedient; die niet tot
gehoorzaamheid aan Gods wet maar tot geloof aan Gods genade
uitnoodigt; en die ook altĳd gepaard gaat met zekere werking en
getuigenis van dien Geest, dien Christus als zĳn Geest in de
gemeente uitgestort heeft, Joh. 16:8-11, Mt. 12:31, Hd. 5:3, 7:51,
Hebr. 6:4. Deze roeping is niet universeel in den zin der oude
Lutherschen, die met beroep op Mt. 28:19, Joh. 3:16, Rom. 10:18,
Col. 1:23, 1 Tim. 2:4 beweerden, dat ten tĳde van Adam, Noach en
Christus het evangelie feitelĳk aan alle volken bekend was geweest
en door eigen schuld weder verloren was gegaan, Form. Conc. bĳ
Müller 709. Gerhard, Loc. VII c. 7. Quenstedt, Theol. III 465-476; cf.
ook de Remonstranten e. a. bĳ M. Vitringa III 167; maar zĳ mag en
moet toch gebracht worden tot alle menschen zonder onderscheid.
De Schrift beveelt dit uitdrukkelĳk, Mt. 28:19, en zegt bovendien, dat
velen, die niet komen, toch geroepen waren, Mt. 22:14, Luk. 14:16-
18, maar het evangelie verwierpen, Joh. 3:36, Hd. 13:46, 2 Thess.
1:8 en daarom juist aan de schrikkelĳke zonde des ongeloofs
schuldig staan, Mt. 10:15, 11:22, 24, Joh. 3:36, 16:8, 9, 2 Thess. 1:8,
1 Joh. 5:10. De universalisten brengen echter tegen de
Gereformeerden in, dat dezen op hun standpunt zulk eene
algemeene roeping door het evangelie niet kunnen aannemen;
immers is Christus volgens hen niet voor allen doch slechts voor de
uitverkorenen gestorven; en de prediking kan dus niet luiden:
Christus heeft voor u voldaan, uwe zonden zĳn verzoend, geloof
alleenlĳk; maar kan voor onbekeerden alleen bevatten den eisch der
wet; indien wĳ het algemeen aanbod der genade handhaven, is dit
toch van Gods zĳde niet ernstig gemeend en bovendien onnut en
ĳdel, cf. bĳv. Arminius, Op. 661 sq. Conf. en Apol. Conf. Rem. c. 7.
Episcopius, Antidotum c. 9, Op. II 2 p. 38, Limborch, Theol. Chr. IV
3, 12-18. Deze bedenkingen zĳn ongetwĳfeld van groot gewicht, en
hebben van de zĳde der Gereformeerden verschillende antwoorden
uitgelokt. Sommigen kwamen er toe, om aan de zondaren alleen de
wet te prediken en het evangelie alleen aan te bieden aan hen, die
reeds zichzelven hadden leeren kennen en behoefte gevoelden aan
verlossing; anderen handhaafden het algemeene aanbod der
genade en rechtvaardigden het daarmede, dat Christus’ offerande
genoegzaam voor allen was of dat Christus toch ook vele en velerlei
zegeningen verworven had voor hen, die niet in Hem zouden
gelooven, of dat het evangelie hun alleen aangeboden werd op
conditie van geloof en bekeering; nog anderen naderden het
universalisme en leerden, dat Christus volgens een eerste,
algemeen besluit Gods voor allen voldaan had, of dat Hĳ voor allen
de wettelĳke mogelĳkheid, om zalig te worden, verworven en allen in
een „salvable state” gebracht had, of ook zelfs, dat de verwerving
der zaligheid universeel en de toepassing particulier was, cf. boven
bl. 395v. Hoezeer het ook schĳnen kon, dat de belĳdenis van
verkiezing en particuliere voldoening iets anders vorderde, toch
hebben de Gereformeerden in den regel het algemeene aanbod der
genade gehandhaafd.
2. En dit volkomen terecht. Want 1o de Schrift laat er geen twĳfel
over, dat het evangelie aan alle creaturen mag en moet gepredikt
worden. Of wĳ dit met de particuliere uitkomst rĳmen kunnen, is eene
andere vraag. Maar het bevel van Christus is het einde van alle
tegenspraak. Regel voor onze gedraging is alleen de geopenbaarde
wil Gods. De uitkomst van die prediking is vast en zeker, niet alleen
volgens hen, die de praedestinatie belĳden, maar ook op het
standpunt van hen, die alleen de praescientia erkennen. God kan
niet bedrogen uitkomen; voor Hem kan het resultaat der
wereldgeschiedenis geen teleurstelling zĳn. En met eerbied gezegd,
is het niet onze taak, maar ligt het voor Gods rekening, om deze
uitkomst met de algemeene aanbieding des heils in
overeenstemming te brengen. Dit alleen weten wĳ, dat die uitkomst
juist naar Gods besluit gebonden is aan en verkregen wordt door al
die middelen en wegen, welke ons zĳn voorgeschreven. En
daaronder behoort ook de prediking van het evangelie aan alle
creaturen. Met het besluit van verkiezing en verwerping hebben wĳ
daarbĳ niets te maken. Het evangelie wordt aan menschen
verkondigd, niet als verkorenen en verworpenen, maar als zondaren,
die allen verlossing van noode hebben. Door menschen bediend, die
den verborgen raad Gods niet kennen, kan het evangelie niet anders
dan algemeen in zĳne aanbieding zĳn. Gelĳk een net, in de zee
geworpen, goede en kwade visschen opvangt, gelĳk de zon zoowel
het onkruid als de tarwe beschĳnt, gelĳk het zaad van den zaaier niet
alleen in goede aarde maar ook in steenachtige en dorre plaatsen
valt, zoo komt het evangelie in zĳne bediening tot alle menschen
zonder onderscheid. 2o De prediking van dat evangelie luidt niet tot
elk mensch, hoofd voor hoofd: Christus is in uwe plaats gestorven, al
uwe zonden zĳn verzoend en vergeven. Want, al meenen de
universalisten, dit te kunnen en te mogen zeggen tot ieder mensch
zonder eenige nadere bepaling, toch blĳkt bĳ eenig nadenken, dat
ook op het standpunt der universalisten dit geenszins het geval is.
Immers heeft Christus volgens hen slechts de mogelĳkheid der
vergeving en der zaligheid verworven; werkelĳk wordt die vergeving
en zaligheid eerst, als de mensch gelooft en gelooven blĳft. Ook zĳ
kunnen dus alleen als inhoud des evangelies prediken: geloof in den
Heere Jezus, en gĳ zult vergeving der zonden en het eeuwige leven
ontvangen. Dit nu zeggen de Gereformeerden evenzoo; ook zĳ
bieden zoo het evangelie aan alle menschen aan en kunnen, mogen
en moeten dat doen. De vergeving der zonden en de eeuwige
zaligheid zĳn er, maar zĳ worden ons deel slechts in den weg des
geloofs. Maar daarbĳ is er tusschen de universalisten en de
Gereformeerden toch nog een belangrĳk onderscheid, dat geheel in
het voordeel der laatsten is. Bĳ genen toch verwierf Christus alleen
de mogelĳkheid der zaligheid; of deze werkelĳk iemands deel wordt,
hangt van hemzelf af; het geloof is eene conditie, een werk, dat de
mogelĳke zaligheid eerst tot werkelĳke maakt, en ze altĳd, tot den
dood toe, in het onzekere laat. Maar bĳ de Geref. verwierf Christus
de gansche, volle, werkelĳke zaligheid; het geloof is daarom geen
werk, geen conditie, geen verstandelĳke toestemming van de
sententie: Christus is voor u gestorven, maar een steunen op
Christus zelven, een vertrouwen op zĳne offerande alleen, een
levend geloof, veel eenvoudiger dan het bĳ de universalisten wezen
kan, en dat veel zekerder de zaligheid meebrengt, dan zĳ op hun
standpunt ooit beloven kunnen. De fout schuilt alleen bĳ den
mensch, die altĳd geneigd is, om de orde, door God ingesteld, om te
keeren: hĳ wil van de uitkomst zeker zĳn, voordat hĳ gebruik maakt
van de middelen, en juist om van het gebruik ontslagen te wezen.
Maar God wil, dat wĳ den weg des geloofs zullen inslaan, en
verzekert ons dan in Christus onfeilbaar de volkomene zaligheid. 3o
Daarom is die aanbieding des heils van Gods zĳde ook ernstig
gemeend en oprecht. Want Hĳ zegt in die aanbieding niet, wat Hĳ zal
doen, of Hĳ het geloof zal schenken of niet. Dat heeft Hĳ zichzelf
voorbehouden en ons niet geopenbaard. Hĳ verklaart alleen, wat Hĳ
wil, dat wĳ zullen doen, dat wĳ ons verootmoedigen zullen en ons
heil zoeken in Christus alleen. Als daartegen ingebracht wordt, dat
God dan toch de zaligheid aanbiedt aan zulken, aan wie Hĳ besloten
heeft, het geloof en de zaligheid niet te schenken, dan is dit een
bezwaar, dat evenzeer van kracht blĳft op het standpunt der
tegenstanders. Want immers biedt God dan ook de zaligheid aan
aan zulken, van wie Hĳ zeker, vast, onfeilbaar weet, dat zĳ niet
zullen gelooven. Niet alleen toch volgens de Geref. maar volgens
alle belĳders van Christus staat de uitkomst der wereldgeschiedenis
eeuwig en onveranderlĳk vast, deel II 352. Het verschil is alleen, dat
de Gereformeerden hebben durven zeggen: die uitkomst is in
overeenstemming met Gods wil en bedoeling. Wat is en geschiedt,
moet God, al begrĳpen wĳ het niet, hebben kunnen willen,
behoudens al zĳne deugden en volmaaktheden; anders ware God
geen God meer. De geschiedenis kan en mag geen partĳ zĳn
tegenover God. Alverder is daarom 4o die prediking des evangelies
ook niet ĳdel of onnut. Als God uit onkunde of onmacht door de
algemeene aanbieding werkelĳk aller zaligheid bedoelde, dan werd
zĳ inderdaad onnut en ĳdel. Want hoe weinigen zĳn het, bĳ wie dit
doel wordt bereikt! Dan sluit zĳ zelve eene antinomie in, die ter
oplossing tot steeds verdere afdwaling van de Schrift verleidt. Want
indien de wil en bedoeling Gods, indien de voldoening van Christus
volstrekt algemeen is, dan moet de aanbieding des heils ook zonder
eenige beperking algemeen zĳn. En wĳl zĳ dat blĳkbaar niet is, komt
men er dan toe, om met de oude Lutheranen de geschiedenis in het
aangezicht te weerspreken en te beweren, dat door de apostelen het
evangelie tot alle volken gebracht is, of met vele nieuwere theologen
eene evangelie-prediking ook nog aan gene zĳde des grafs aan te
nemen, cf. bĳv. W. Schmidt, Stud. u. Krit 1887 S. 1-44, of erger nog
met het rationalisme en mysticisme te gelooven, dat de wet der
natuur of het inwendige licht genoegzaam tot de zaligheid is. Hoe
verder men echter op deze wĳze, in strĳd met de historie, de roeping
uitbreidt, des te zwakker, krachteloozer en ĳdeler wordt zĳ. In
qualiteit en intensiteit wordt verloren, wat men schĳnbaar in quantiteit
en uitbreiding wint; het conflict tusschen Gods bedoeling en de
uitkomst wordt hoe langer hoe grooter. 5o Al wordt dan ook door de
roeping de zaligheid slechts het deel van weinigen, gelĳk ieder
erkennen moet, zĳ houdt daarom toch ook voor hen, die haar
verwerpen, haar groote waarde en beteekenis. Zĳ is voor allen
zonder onderscheid het bewĳs van Gods oneindige liefde en
bezegelt het woord, dat Hĳ geen lust heeft in den dood des zondaars
maar daarin, dat hĳ zich bekeere en leve; zĳ verkondigt aan allen,
dat de offerande van Christus voldoende is voor de verzoening van
alle zonden; dat niemand verloren gaat, wĳl zĳ niet rĳk en krachtig
genoeg is; dat geen recht der wet, geen macht der zonde, geen
heerschappĳ van Satan hare toepassing in den weg staat; want niet
gelĳk de misdaad, alzoo is de genadegift. Zelfs is zĳ dikwerf ook voor
hen, die zich verharden in hun ongeloof, de bron van allerlei
zegeningen; verlichting des verstands, hemelsche gave,
gemeenschap des H. Geestes, genieting van het woord Gods,
krachten der toekomende eeuw zĳn soms zelfs het deel geweest van
hen, die later afvallig worden en Christus versmaden, Hebr. 6:4-6.
En dit niet alleen, maar 6o de uitwendige roeping door wet en
evangelie bereikt ook het doel, dat God ermede beoogt. Ĳdel en
onnut is nooit, wat God doet. Zĳn woord keert niet ledig weer, het
doet al wat Hem behaagt, het is voorspoedig in al datgene, waartoe
Hĳ het zendt. Maar dit is niet alleen en niet in de eerste plaats de
eeuwige zaligheid der menschen maar de eere van zĳn eigen naam.
In de roeping door wet en evangelie handhaaft God het recht op zĳn
schepsel. De zondaar meent door de zonde vrĳ te worden van God
en van zĳn dienst ontslagen. Maar het is niet zoo. Het recht Gods op
den mensch, ook op den diepst gezonkene, is onvervreemdbaar en
onkreukbaar. De mensch kan, God den dienst opzeggende, diep
ellendig worden, maar hĳ blĳft een schepsel, en dus afhankelĳk. Hĳ
wordt door de zonde niet minder maar veel meer afhankelĳk; want hĳ
houdt op een zoon te zĳn, en wordt een dienstknecht, een slaaf, een
machteloos instrument, dat door God gebruikt wordt naar zĳn wil.
God laat den mensch nooit los en geeft zĳne rechten op hem, op zĳn
dienst, op zĳne volkomene toewĳding met verstand en wil en alle
krachten nooit prĳs. En daarom roept Hĳ hem door natuur en
geschiedenis, door hart en geweten, door zegeningen en gerichten,
door wet en evangelie. De roeping in den ruimsten zin is de
prediking van het recht Gods op zĳn gevallen schepsel. 7o Als
zoodanig handhaaft zĳ in den mensch en in de menschheid al die
godsdienstige en zedelĳke beseffen van afhankelĳkheid, eerbied,
ontzag, plicht, verantwoordelĳkheid enz., zonder welke het
menschelĳk geslacht niet zou kunnen bestaan. Godsdienst,
zedelĳkheid, recht, kunst, wetenschap, gezin, maatschappĳ, staat, zĳ
hebben alle hun wortel en grondslag in die roeping, welke van God
tot alle menschen uitgaat. Neem haar weg, en er ontstaat een oorlog
van allen tegen allen, de eene mensch wordt een wolf voor den
ander. De roeping door wet en evangelie houdt de zonde tegen,
mindert de schuld, en stuit het bederf en de ellende van den
mensch; zĳ is een gratia reprimens. Zĳ is een bewĳs dat God God en
voor niets onverschillig is, dat niet alleen het Jenseits maar ook het
Diesseits waarde voor Hem heeft. Hoezeer de mensch dan ook
geneigd zĳ, om zich achter zĳne onmacht te verschuilen, of met
Pelagius en Kant uit zĳn plicht tot zĳne macht te besluiten; ook
daarin erkent hĳ, dat Gods recht en onze plicht onverzwakt blĳven
bestaan, en dat hĳ zelf onontschuldigbaar is. Maar eindelĳk 8o de
roeping is niet alleen eene gratia reprimens maar ook eene gratia
praeparans. Christus is tot eene κρισις, tot een val maar ook tot
eene opstanding in de wereld gekomen, Mk. 4:12, Luk. 2:34, 8:10,
Joh. 9:39, 15:22, 2 Cor. 2:16, 1 Pet. 2:7, 8. En de roeping door wet
en evangelie bedoelt ook, om door alwat zĳ schenkt en werkt, in de
menschheid en in den enkelen mensch de komst van Christus voor
te bereiden. In Remonstrantschen zin, Conf. en Apol. XI 4 werd zulk
eene gratia praeparans door de Gereformeerden beslist ontkend,
Can. Dordr. I verw. 4. Trigland, Antapol. c. 25 sq. Mastricht, Theol. VI
3, 19. 28. Witsius, Oec. foed. III 6, 9. Het geestelĳk leven, dat in de
wedergeboorte ingeplant wordt, is wezenlĳk verschillend van het
natuurlĳk en zedelĳk leven, dat eraan voorafgaat; het komt niet door
menschelĳke werkzaamheid of evolutie maar door eene scheppende
daad Gods tot stand. Sommigen noemden daarom de
werkzaamheden, die aan de wedergeboorte voorafgaan, liever actus
antecedanei dan actus praeparatorii. Maar toch kan er in goeden zin
van gratia praeparans gesproken worden; tegenover alle
methodistische richtingen, die het natuurlĳke leven miskennen, is ze
zelfs van uitnemende waarde. Want de belĳdenis der
voorbereidende genade houdt niet in, dat de mensch, door te doen
quod in se est, door vlĳtig ter kerk te gaan, met ernst naar Gods
woord te hooren, zĳne zonde te erkennen, naar verlossing te
verlangen enz., volgens een meritum de congruo, de genade der
wedergeboorte, verdienen of ook zich voor haar ontvankelĳk en
vatbaar maken kan. Maar zĳ houdt in, dat God Schepper,
Onderhouder en Regeerder aller dingen is en dat Hĳ zelfs verre van
te voren in de geslachten het leven schikt van hen, die Hĳ te zĳner
tĳd begiftigen zal met het geloof. De mensch is op den zesden dag
niet door evolutie uit lagere schepselen ontstaan maar door Gods
hand geschapen; toch mag zĳne schepping door de voorafgaande
daden Gods voorbereid heeten. Christus zelf is van boven gekomen,
maar zĳne komst is eeuwenlang voorbereid. Natuur en genade zĳn
onderscheiden en mogen niet verward of vermengd, maar God legt
verband tusschen beide. Schepping, verlossing en heiligmaking
worden oeconomisch toegeschreven aan Vader, Zoon en Geest,
maar deze drie zĳn de ééne en waarachtige God en saam brengen
zĳ het gansche werk der verlossing tot stand. Niemand kan tot
Christus komen, tenzĳ de Vader hem trekke; en niemand ontvangt
den H. Geest, dan wien de Zoon Hem zendt. En daarom is er eene
gratia praeparans. God bereidt zelf op menigerlei wĳze zĳn werk der
genade in de harten voor. Hĳ wekt in Zacheus de begeerte, om
Jezus te zien, Luk. 19:3, werkt verslagenheid onder de schare, die
Petrus hoort, Hd. 2:37, doet een Paulus ter aarde vallen, Hd. 9:4,
brengt den stokbewaarder tot verlegenheid, Hd. 16:27 en leidt zoo
het leven van al zĳne kinderen ook vóór en tot de ure van hunne
wedergeboorte toe. Ook al zĳn zĳ nog niet van hunne zĳde de
verzoening en rechtvaardiging deelachtig, al hebben zĳ nog niet de
wedergeboorte en het geloof, zĳ zĳn toch reeds voorwerpen zĳner
eeuwige liefde, en Hĳ leidt hen zelf door zĳne genade heen tot dien
Geest, die alleen wederbaren en troosten kan. Alles staat dan ook
naar de ordening Gods met hun latere toebrenging tot en roeping in
de gemeente in verband. Ontvangenis en geboorte, huisgezin en
geslacht, volk en land, opvoeding en onderwĳs, ontwikkeling van
verstand en hart, bewaring voor schrikkelĳke zonden, voor de
lastering tegen den H. Geest bovenal, of ook overgave aan allerlei
boosheid en ongerechtigheid, rampen en oordeelen, zegeningen en
weldaden, prediking van wet en evangelie, verslagenheid en vreeze
voor het oordeel, ontwaking der conscientie en behoefte aan
redding, het is alles eene gratia praeparans tot de wedergeboorte uit
den H. Geest en tot de plaats, welke de geloovige later in de
gemeente innemen zal. Eén is wel de weg naar den hemel, maar
vele zĳn de leidingen Gods, zoowel vóór als op dien weg, en rĳk en
vrĳ is de genade des H. Geestes. Jeremia en Johannes de Dooper
en Timotheus worden op andere wĳze toegebracht dan Manasse of
Paulus, en vervullen in den dienst Gods elk eene onderscheidene
taak. Pietisme en methodisme miskennen die leidingen, beperken
Gods genade, willen allen bekeeren en vormen naar één type. Maar
de Geref. theologie eerbiedigt de vrĳmacht Gods en bewondert den
rĳkdom zĳner genade. Cf. over wezen en vrucht der uitwendige
roeping, behalve de vroeger bl. 211 genoemde litt. over de
algemeene genade: Twissus, Op. I 660 sq. Trigland, Opuscula I
430v. II 809v. Gomarus, Op. I 97 sq. Synopsis pur. theol. 30, 40-46.
Voetius, Disp. II 256. Mastricht, Theol. VI 2, 16. Turretinus, Theol. El.
XV qu. 2 en ook XIV 14, 51. Witsius, Oec. foed. II 9, 4. III 5. 20.
Heidegger, Corp. Theol. XXI § 9-11. Alting, Theol. probl. 187. Moor
III 1071. Hodge, Syst. Theol. II 641v. Shedd, Dogm. Theol. I 451. II
482v. Candlish, The atonement 1861, p. 169v. A. Robertson, Hist. of
the atonement controversy in conn. with the secession Church 1846.
Over de gratia praeparans is te raadplegen: Musculus, Loci C. §24.
Martyr, L. C. 312. Ursinus op vr. 88-90. Olevianus e. a. bĳ Heppe,
Dogm. d.d. Pr. II 372. Perkins, Werken III 127v. Amesius, Casus
Consc. II 4 en disp. theol. de praepar. peccatoris ad conversionem,
bĳ Dr. H. Visscher, G. Amesius 1894 p. 125. Britsche theologen op
de Dordsche synode over het 3e en 4e art. Synopsis 32, 6. Witsius,
Oec. foed. III 6, 11-15. Voetius, Disp. II 402-424. Moor IV 482.
Vitringa, Geestelĳk Leven c. 4. Eenhoorn, Welleven I 220. Van Aalst,
Geest. Mengelstoffen, 298. 369. Comrie Catech. op vr. 20-23. Owen,
Rechtv. uit het geloof c. 1 bl. 83v. Kuyper, Het werk v. d. H. G. II 111.
3. Schrift en ervaring getuigen echter, dat al deze werkingen der

vocatio externa niet altĳd en bĳ allen tot het oprecht geloof en de
zaligheid leiden. Vanzelf rĳst dus de vraag, wat de diepste en laatste
oorzaak van die verschillende uitkomst is. Daarop werd in de
christelĳke kerk in hoofdzaak drieërlei antwoord gegeven. Sommigen
zeiden, dat die verschillende uitkomst te danken was aan den wil
des menschen, hetzĳ die wil van nature of door de genade van den
Logos of door die in den doop of ook door die in de roeping de
kracht ontvangen had, om het evangelie aan te nemen of te
verwerpen. Op dit standpunt is er geen onderscheid van vocatio
externa en interna, van vocatio sufficiens en efficax. Innerlĳk en
wezenlĳk is de roeping altĳd en bĳ allen dezelfde; zĳ heet alleen
efficax naar de uitkomst, als iemand haar gehoor geeft. Na alwat
vroeger, vooral deel II 355v. over het pelagianisme gezegd is,
behoeft dit antwoord geen breedvoerige weerlegging meer. Het is
duidelĳk, dat het geen oplossing biedt. Men kan wel in de practĳk bĳ
de naaste oorzaak blĳven staan en bepaaldelĳk het ongeloof
toeschrĳven aan den wil van den mensch. Men spreekt dan ook naar
waarheid, Deut. 30:19, Jos. 24:15, Jes. 65:12, Mt. 22:2, 23:37, Joh.
7:17, Rom. 9:32 enz.; de zondige wil van den mensch is oorzaak van
zĳn ongeloof. Maar reeds in de practĳk schrĳven alle vromen ten
allen tĳde en onder alle richtingen hun geloof en zaligheid alleen aan
Gods genade toe, deel II 351. Er is niets, dat hen onderscheidt dan
die genade alleen, 1 Cor. 4:7. En daarom kan dit onderscheid ter
laatste instantie niet liggen in den menschelĳken wil. Blĳft men
daarbĳ toch als de laatste oorzaak staan, dan verheffen zich in eens
al de psychologische, ethische, historische en theologische
bezwaren, die ten allen tĳde tegen het pelagianisme ingebracht zĳn.
Eene onberekenbare willekeur wordt ingevoerd, de zonde verzwakt,
de beslissing over de uitkomst der wereldgeschiedenis in handen
van den mensch gelegd, de regeering aller dingen aan God
onttrokken, zĳne genade te niet gedaan. Ook al schrĳft men de
macht, om voor of tegen het evangelie te kiezen, aan de herstelling
door de genade toe, de zaak wordt daardoor toch niet beter. Men
voert dan eene genade in, die enkel en alleen in de herstelling der
wilskeuze bestaat, van welke de Schrift met geen woord melding
maakt, die eigenlĳk de wedergeboorte al onderstelt en ze toch eerst
na goede keuze van den wil tot stand brengen moet, cf. Frank, Syst.
d. chr. Wahrh. II 325. Ook raakt men op dit standpunt verlegen met
al die millioenen van menschen, die nooit het evangelie hebben
gehoord of ook als kinderkens wegstierven en die daarom nooit in de
gelegenheid werden gesteld, om Christus aan te nemen of te
verwerpen. De vrĳe wil des menschen kan daarom de laatste
oorzaak van geloof en ongeloof niet zĳn. Een ander antwoord werd
daarom op de bovengestelde vraag door Bellarminus gegeven; hĳ
verwierp zoowel de leer van Pelagius als van Augustinus, zocht een
middenweg te bewandelen, en zeide, dat de efficacia der roeping
daarvan afhing, of zĳ tot iemand kwam in een geschikten tĳd, als zĳn
wil genegen was om haar op te volgen (congruitas), de grat. et lib.
arb. I 12. IV 11, en zoo verder de congruisten, en in de Geref. kerk
Pajon, Kleman en ook Shedd, Syst. Theol. II 511-528, die de
zaligheid in the highest degree probable noemt voor ieder, die
ernstig en ĳverig van de middelen der genade gebruik maakt. Maar
ook dit antwoord is onbevredigend. Er ligt in de congruitas wel eene
belangrĳke waarheid, die door het methodisme miskend, in de Geref.
leer van de gratia praeparans tot haar recht komt. Maar zĳ is geheel
onvoldoende, om de efficacia der roeping te verklaren. Immers is zĳ
in haarzelve niet anders dan eene suasio moralis, welke uiteraard
onmachtig is dat geestelĳk leven te scheppen, hetwelk volgens de
Schrift door wedergeboorte in den mensch ontstaat; voorts
onderstelt zĳ, dat de mensch in het eene oogenblik niet, in het
andere wel geschikt is om de genade aan te nemen, en zoekt de
zonde dus in de omstandigheden en verzwakt die in den mensch;
verder legt zĳ de beslissing in den wil des menschen en roept
daardoor al de bedenkingen weer op, die boven genoemd en door
Bellarminus zelven tegen het pelagianisme ingebracht werden; en
eindelĳk legt zĳ tusschen roeping en bekeering slechts een verband
van congruitas, dat als zedelĳk van aard steeds door den wil
verbroken kan worden en daarom de efficacia der roeping niet
waarborgen kan. Daarom werd door de Augustinianen, de
Thomisten en de Gereformeerden de oorzaak, waardoor de roeping
bĳ den een vrucht droeg en bĳ den ander niet, in den aard der
roeping zelve gezocht. De eersten zeiden, dat er, ingeval de roeping
krachtdadig is, eene delectatio victrix bĳkwam, die niet alleen het
posse maar ook het velle schonk; de Thomisten spraken van eene
physica praedeterminatio of actio Dei physica, welke het posse
agere, door de vocatio sufficiens geschonken, in een agere deed
overgaan; maar de Gereformeerden hadden tegen deze termen
bezwaar, vooral tegen de omschrĳving van de daad Gods in de
bekeering als eene physische en spraken liever van eene vocatio
externa en interna. Deze onderscheiding komt reeds bĳ Augustinus
voor, de praed. sanct. c. 8, werd van hem overgenomen door
Calvĳn, op Rom. 10:16, Acta Syn. Trid. c. antidoto sess. 6, C. R. 35,
480. Inst. III 24, 8 enz., en dan ingeburgerd in de Geref. theologie.
Eerst werd deze tweeërlei roeping ook nog wel anders genoemd, n.l.
vocatio materialis en formalis, signi en beneplaciti, communis en
singularis, universalis en specialis enz., Polanus, Synt. VI c. 32,
maar de naam van uit- en inwendige roeping kreeg de overhand en
heeft allengs de andere verdrongen.
Al komt deze onderscheiding nu met letterlĳke woorden in de
Schrift niet voor, zĳ is toch op haar gegrond. Zĳ vloeit 1o reeds
daaruit voort, dat alle menschen van nature gelĳk zĳn, verdoemelĳk
voor Gods aangezicht, Rom. 3:9-19, 5:12, 9:21, 11:32, dood in
zonden en misdaden, Ef. 2:2, 3, verduisterd in het verstand, 1 Cor.
2:14, Ef. 4:18, 5:8, het koninkrĳk Gods niet kunnende zien, Joh. 3:3,
slaven der zonde, Joh. 8:34, Rom. 6:20, vĳanden Gods, Rom. 8:7,
Col. 1:21, die zich der wet niet kunnen onderwerpen, Rom. 8:7, uit
zichzelven niets goeds kunnen denken of doen, Joh. 15:5, 2 Cor.
3:5, en, ofschoon het evangelie voor den mensch is, toch er vĳandig
tegenover staan en het als een ergernis of dwaasheid verachten, 1
Cor. 1:23, 2:14. Uit den mensch is daarom het onderscheid niet te
verklaren, dat na de roeping waar te nemen valt. Alleen God en zĳne
genade maakt onderscheid, 1 Cor. 4:7. 2o De prediking des Woords
is zonder meer niet voldoende, Jes. 6:9, 10, 53:1, Mt. 13:13v, Mk.
4:12, Joh. 12:38-40 enz.; reeds in het O. T. werd daarom de H.
Geest beloofd, die allen leeren en een nieuw hart schenken zou,
Jes. 32:15, Jer. 31:33, 32:39, Ezech. 11:19, 36:26, Joel 2:28; en
daartoe werd Hĳ op den pinksterdag uitgestort, om met en door de
apostelen te getuigen van Christus, Joh. 15:26, 27, om de wereld te
overtuigen van zonde, gerechtigheid en oordeel, Joh. 16:8-11, om te
wederbaren, Joh. 3:5v., 6:63, 16:13, en te leiden tot de belĳdenis van
Jezus als den Heere, 1 Cor. 12:3. Daarom wordt 3o het werk der
verlossing zoowel subjectief als objectief geheel aan God
toegeschreven, en wel niet in algemeenen zin, zooals Hĳ door zĳne
voorzienigheid alle dingen voortbrengt, maar bepaaldelĳk ook in dien
engeren zin, dat Hĳ door bĳzondere Goddelĳke kracht de
wedergeboorte en bekeering werkt. Het is niet desgenen, die wil
noch desgenen die loopt, maar des ontfermenden Gods, Rom. 9:16;
de roeping is realiseering der verkiezing, Rom. 8:28, 11:29. Het is
God, die het hart vernieuwt en er zĳne wet in schrĳft, Ps. 51:12, Jer.
31:33, Ezech. 36:26, die verlichte oogen des verstands geeft, Ps.
119:18, Ef. 1:18, Col. 1:9-11 en het hart opent, Hd. 16:14, die zĳnen
Zoon als Christus kennen doet, Mt. 11:25, 16:17, Gal. 1:16 en tot
Hem henenleidt met geestelĳke kracht, Joh. 6:44, Col. 1:12, 13, die
het evangelie prediken doet, niet alleen in woorden, maar ook in
kracht en in den H. Geest, 1 Cor. 2:4, 1 Thess. 1:5, 6 en zelf den
wasdom geeft, 1 Cor. 3:6-9, die in één woord in ons werkt beide het
willen en het werken naar zĳn welbehagen, Phil. 2:13, en daartoe
eene kracht bezigt, welke gelĳk is aan de werking der sterkte zĳner
macht, als Hĳ Christus uit de dooden opgewekt en gezet heeft aan
zĳne rechterhand, Ef. 1:18-20. 4o De daad zelve, waardoor God
deze verandering in den mensch teweegbrengt, heet dikwerf
wedergeboorte, Joh. 1:13, 3:3v., Tit. 3:5 enz., en de vrucht daarvan
wordt aangeduid als een nieuw hart, Jer. 31:33, καινη κτισις, 2 Cor.
5:17, θεου ποιημα, κτισθεντες ἐν Χριστῳ Ιησου, Ef. 2:10, το ἐργον
του θεου, Rom. 14:20, zĳne οἰκοδομη, 1 Cor. 3:9, Ef. 2:21 enz., dat
is, wat er in den mensch door de genade tot stand gebracht wordt, is
veel te rĳk en te groot, dan dat het uit eene suasio moralis van het
woord der prediking zou kunnen verklaard worden. Eindelĳk 5o de
Schrift spreekt zelve van de roeping in tweeërlei zin. Meermalen
gewaagt zĳ van eene roeping en noodiging, die niet opgevolgd
wordt, Jes. 65:12, Mt. 22:3, 14, 23:37, Mk. 16:15, 16, enz., en dan
kan zĳ zeggen, dat God alles van zĳne zĳde gedaan heeft, Jes. 5:4,
en dat de menschen door hun onwil niet geloofd en Gods raad, den
H. Geest, de roeping hebben weerstaan, Mt. 11:20v., 23:37, Luk.
7:30, Hd. 7:51. Maar zĳ kent ook eene roeping, die God tot auteur
heeft, realiseering der verkiezing en altĳd krachtdadig is; zoo
bepaaldelĳk bĳ Paulus, Rom. 4:17, 8:30, 9:11, 24, 1 Cor. 1:9, 7:15v.,
Gal. 1:6, 15, 5:8, Ef. 4:1, 4, 1 Thess. 2:12, 2 Tim. 1:9, cf. ook 1 Petr.
1:15, 2:9, 5:10, 2 Petr. 1:3; de geloovigen kunnen daarom eenvoudig
als κλητοι, Rom. 1:7, 1 Cor. 1:2, 24, κλητοι Χριστου, of κλητοι ἐν
κυριῳ, 1 Cor. 7:22, d. i. geroepenen door God, die Christus
toebehooren en in zĳne gemeenschap leven, worden aangeduid.
Daarnaast kent Paulus wel eene prediking des evangelies aan
zulken, die het verwerpen, maar hun is het evangelie eene
dwaasheid, 1 Cor. 1:18, 23, eene reuke des doods ten doode, 2 Cor.
2:15, 16, zĳ verstaan het niet, 1 Cor. 2:14. Als eene kracht Gods, 1
Cor. 1:18, 24, bewĳst het zich aan hen, die door God naar zĳn
voornemen geroepen worden, Rom. 8:28, 9:11, 11:28, Ef. 1:4, 5.
4. Deze roeping, in den zin van Paulus opgevat, komt daardoor

vanzelf in het allernauwste verband te staan met wat elders
wedergeboorte heet. Dat blĳkt reeds daaruit, dat Paulus, de roeping
steeds krachtdadig nemende, van wedergeboorte bĳna niet spreekt.
Slechts eenmaal bedient hĳ zich van dit woord, als hĳ in Tit. 3:5 zegt,
dat God ons niet heeft zalig gemaakt uit onze werken, maar
overeenkomstig zĳne barmhartigheid δια λουτρου παλιγγενεσιας και
ἀνακαινωσεως πνευματος ἁγιου, d. i. door middel van het bad der
door den H. Geest gewerkte wedergeboorte en vernieuwing.
Wedergeboorte wordt hier met vernieuwing verbonden, wĳl zĳ er de
aanvang en het beginsel van is; saam worden zĳ toegeschreven aan
den H. Geest; en beide worden als een bad gedacht, waarin de H.
Geest de geloovigen ondergedompeld heeft en waaruit Hĳ hen als
nieuwe menschen heeft doen opstaan. Volgens Rom. 6 geschiedt dit
in den doop als teeken en zegel van het genadeverbond. Als de
uitverkorenen n.l. geroepen worden, dan ontvangen zĳ terstond door
het geloof de rechtvaardigmaking en de aanneming tot kinderen in
juridischen zin, Rom. 3:22, 24, 4:5, 5:1, Gal. 3:26, 4:5, enz., maar
tegelĳk daarmede ook de gemeenschap met Christus, Rom. 6:3v.,
de verheerlĳking naar zĳn beeld, Rom. 8:29, 30, 1 Cor. 4:15, 2 Cor.
3:18, Gal. 4:19, en dus, wĳl Christus zelf levendmakende Geest is, 1
Cor. 15:45, 2 Cor. 3:17, den Geest van Christus als principe van een
nieuw leven, Gal. 3:2, 4:6, zoodat de geloovigen nu geestelĳke,
nieuwe menschen zĳn, 1 Cor. 2:15, 2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15, Ef. 2:15,
4:24, Col. 3:10, wandelende in, geleid door en tempelen zĳnde van
den H. Geest, Rom. 8:14, 1 Cor. 6:19, Gal. 5:25 enz. Het woord
wedergeboorte moge daarom bĳ Paulus slechts eenmaal
voorkomen; zakelĳk ligt zĳ bĳ hem toch ten grondslag aan het
nieuwe leven, dat de geroepene in de gemeenschap met Christus
deelachtig wordt. Verwant is de voorstelling bĳ Petrus, die I 1:23 de
geloovigen vermaant elkander lief te hebben, wĳl zĳ zĳn
ἀναγεγεννημενοι οὐκ ἐκ σπορας φθαρτης ἀλλα ἀφθαρτου, δια λογου
ζωντος θεου και μενοντος, d. i. door God, cf. 1:3, opnieuw geboren,
niet uit vergankelĳk zaad, zooals bĳ de eerste geboorte, maar uit
onvergankelĳk zaad, d. i. het woord Gods, zooals het door de
roeping Gods in den mensch ingeplant, een λογος ἐμφυτος, Jak.
1:21 en het beginsel van een nieuw leven wordt, en dat door middel
van het hun verkondigde, levende en blĳvende woord van God cf.
vs. 25. Evenzoo zegt Jakobus 1:18, dat God ons naar zĳn wil
gebaard, voortgebracht heeft, ἀπεκυησεν, door het woord der
waarheid, opdat wĳ, Christenen, de eerstelingen van Gods
schepselen zouden zĳn, d. i. het ware Israel, het bĳzonder eigendom
Gods, de rechtmatige erfgenamen der belofte. Overal is hier de
wedergeboorte gedacht als aanvang, beginsel, grond der
heiligmaking, door God of zĳn Geest inwendig bewerkt, en plaats
hebbende door middel van de roeping door het woord. Maar
Johannes beschouwt de wedergeboorte uit een ander gezichtspunt.
Wat uit vleesch geboren is, dat is vleesch, 3:6 en staat vĳandig tegen
God over. Zulken, die alleen op natuurlĳke wĳze geboren zĳn, 1:13,
zĳn uit, 8:23, 15:19 en behooren tot de wereld, 14:17, 19, 22 enz.,
zĳn van beneden, 8:23, uit den duivel, 8:44, begrĳpen het licht van
den Logos niet, 1:5, nemen Hem niet aan, 1:11, hebben de
duisternis liever dan het licht, 3:19, 20, hooren niet, 8:47, kennen
God niet, 8:19, 15:21, zien het koninkrĳk Gods niet, 3:3, wandelen in
de duisternis, 12:35, haten het licht, 3:20, en zĳn dienstknechten der
zonde, 8:34. Zĳ kunnen ook het koninkrĳk Gods niet zien, 3:3, niet
gelooven, 5:44, 12:39, niet het woord Gods hooren, 8:43, niet tot
Christus komen, 6:44, den H. Geest niet ontvangen, 14:17. En
daarom is er wedergeboorte van noode. Deze is een γεννηθηναι
ἀνωθεν, d. i. van boven, 3:3, cf. 3:31, 8:23, 19:11, 23, ἐκ θεου, 1:13,
I 2, 20, 3:9 enz., uit water en Geest, 3:5, d. i. uit den Geest, 3:6, 8,
wiens reinigende werkzaamheid in het water haar beeld heeft, cf.
Ezech. 36:25-27, Mt. 3:11, geheimzinnig en wonderlĳk, zoodat
niemand oorsprong en wezen ervan kent, 3:8. Deze wedergeboorte
wordt daarom bĳ Johannes ook niet met het woord of met de roeping
in verband gebracht, maar gaat daaraan veeleer vooraf. Immers
werkte Christus als Logos ook reeds vóór zĳne vleeschwording, 1:1-
13; Hĳ scheen als licht in de wereld, maar deze kende Hem niet, 1:5,
9, 10. Hĳ kwam tot het zĳne, tot Israel, en de zĳnen namen Hem niet
aan, 1:11; maar toch was ook toen zĳne komst niet geheel
vruchteloos, want zoovelen als Hem aannamen, kregen toen al de
macht om kinderen Gods te worden. En dat waren dezulken, die uit
God geboren waren, 1:12, 13 cf. 1 Joh. 5:1. Voordat de menschen
tot Christus komen en in Hem gelooven, zĳn zĳ al uit God, 8:47, uit
de waarheid, 18:37; zĳ worden door den Vader gegeven aan den
Zoon, 6:37, 39, 17:2, 9; Hĳ trekt ze tot Christus, 6:44; en al wie zoo
tot Christus komt, werpt Hĳ niet uit en verliest Hĳ niet, maar bewaart
Hĳ tot het eeuwige leven, 6:39, 10:28, 17:12. Christus komt, om hen,
die als door den Vader Hem gegeven zĳne schapen reeds zĳn,
10:27, toe te brengen, om hen zĳne stem te doen hooren en volgen
en tot ééne kudde te vergaderen, 10:16, 11:52; om hun, die al in
zekeren zin kinderen Gods zĳn, 11:52, de ἐξουσια, het recht en de
bevoegdheid te schenken, om het te worden, om zich als zoodanig,
als geborenen uit God, als τεκνα του θεου, te openbaren en dit
vooral te toonen in de broederlĳke liefde, d. i. in de liefde tot hen, die
eveneens uit God geboren zĳn, 1 Joh. 5:1. Uit dit alles blĳkt, dat
Johannes de wedergeboorte niet in de eerste plaats als eene
ethische, doch als eene metaphysische daad Gods denkt, door zĳn
Geest op wondervolle wĳze, onmiddellĳk gewerkt, opdat de alzoo
wedergeborenen juist in Christus gelooven en als kinderen Gods in
broederlĳke liefde openbaar zouden worden.
Ten onrechte wordt deze leer van Johannes door sommigen tot
een gnostisch dualisme herleid, Scholten, Het Ev. naar Joh. 1864 bl.
89v. Holtzmann, Neut. Th. II 468 f. Het is immers geen dualisme, dat
van nature bestaat, want alle dingen zĳn oorspronkelĳk door den
Logos geschapen, 1:3; de wereld gansch in het algemeen is het
voorwerp van Gods liefde, 3:16; God gaf zĳn Zoon, niet om de
wereld te veroordeelen maar te behouden, 3:17, 12:47. Van nature
behooren echter alle menschen tot de wereld, die het licht haat, wĳl
hare werken boos zĳn, 3:19, 20. Zoo hangt het dus van het geloof af,
of iemand het eeuwige leven ontvangt, 3:15, 16, 36. Dat geloof is
een ἐργον, 6:29, het is een komen, 5:40, 6:35, 37, 44, 7:37, een
aannemen, 1:11, 12, 3:11v., 5:43, een dorsten en drinken, een
hongeren en eten, 4:13-15, 6:35, 50v., 7:37, het gaat niet buiten
verstand en wil om maar heeft daarin zĳn wortel, 7:17. Het ongeloof
wordt daarom ook aan den onwil des menschen toegeschreven,
5:40, 8:44; de mensch blĳft er verantwoordelĳk voor, 3:19, 9:41,
12:43, 15:22, 24. En al is het ook, dat de geloovigen niet meer
kunnen verloren gaan, 10:28, 29, zĳ worden toch vermaand, om in
Christus en in zĳn woord te blĳven, wĳl zĳ anders geen vrucht
kunnen dragen, 15:4-10. Ofschoon Johannes dus de tegenstelling
van geloof en ongeloof tot eene daad Gods terugleidt, waardoor Hĳ
aan den eenen geeft wat Hĳ aan den anderen onthoudt, hĳ wil
daarmede geenszins de zelfwerkzaamheid en de
verantwoordelĳkheid des menschen te niet doen; veeleer laat hĳ
beide naast elkander staan, Holtzmann II 494 f. Bĳ alle verschil in
voorstelling, is er daarom tusschen Paulus en Johannes
overeenstemming in de zaak. Verschil is er daarin, dat Paulus de
wedergeboorte beschouwt als den ethischen aanvang van een
nieuw, heilig leven en haar tot stand laat komen door de
krachtdadige roeping Gods; Johannes vat ze op van hare
metaphysische zĳde en verklaart uit haar het feit, dat velen Jezus’
woord hooren en aannemen, door het geloof tot Hem gaan en het
eeuwige leven ontvangen. Op overeenkomstige wĳze werd in den
eersten tĳd der Hervorming de wedergeboorte in ruimeren zin
genomen voor de gansche vernieuwing des menschen, terwĳl zĳ in
later tĳd beperkt werd tot de instorting van het beginsel des nieuwen
levens, welke aan de daad des geloofs voorafging. Voegen wĳ
hieraan nu nog het woord van Jezus in Mt. 19:28 toe, dan blĳkt, dat
de Schrift van de wedergeboorte in drieërlei zin spreekt: als beginsel
des nieuwen levens, dat door den Geest Gods vóór het geloof in den
mensch geplant wordt, als de zedelĳke vernieuwing des menschen
door het woord en den Geest van Christus, en eindelĳk, als
herstelling van de gansche wereld in haar oorspronkelĳke
volkomenheid. Zoo omvat de wedergeboorte het gansche werk der
herschepping van haar allereersten aanvang in den mensch af tot
haar voltooiing in den nieuwen hemel en de nieuwe aarde toe. Deze
gansche herschepping heeft in Christus, bepaaldelĳk in zĳne
opstanding, haar grond, 1 Petr. 1:3, haar beginsel in het woord en
den Geest van Christus, haar auteur in Christus zelven, die de
reformator der schepping is.
Hieruit wordt ook het verband duidelĳk, dat tusschen
wedergeboorte en roeping bestaat. 1o Er is geen wedergeboorte
zonder roeping. Gelĳk God in den beginne alle dingen schiep door te
spreken en nog alle dingen draagt door het woord zĳner kracht, zoo
brengt ook Christus de herschepping tot stand door de macht van
zĳn woord. 2o Deze roeping heeft tot inhoud niet een woord Gods in
het algemeen, maar bepaaldelĳk het woord van Christus. Hĳ heeft
door zĳn lĳden en sterven het recht tot de herschepping aller dingen
verworven. Hĳ heeft haar in zĳne opstanding principieel gerealiseerd;
wanneer Christus als middelaar spreekt, gehoorzaamt alles zĳn
woord en komt uit den dood het leven te voorschĳn; Hĳ maakt
levend, die Hĳ wil, Joh. 5:21, 25, 28v. Inhoud der roeping is daarom
het evangelie, de blĳde boodschap van Christus; daardoor alleen
worden alle dingen vernieuwd. 3o Dit woord van Christus, voor een
oogenblik daargelaten, of het uitwendig, hoorbaar door menschen
gebracht wordt of niet, moet in elk geval een λογος ἐμφυτος worden,
Jak. 1:21. Eerst als het in den mensch, in de schepselen ingeplant
wordt, komt daaruit als ἐκ σπορας ἀφθαρτου, 1 Petr. 1:23 het nieuwe
leven te voorschĳn. 4o Het evangelie, het woord van Christus, zóó
verkondigen, dat het niet alleen tot de schepselen gebracht maar in
hen ingeplant wordt, kan alleen de H. Geest. Gelĳk de schepping
geschiedde door Woord en Geest, zoo volbrengt ook Christus de
herschepping door zĳn woord en zĳn Geest. Hĳ is zelf geworden tot
levendmakenden Geest, 1 Cor. 15:47, 2 Cor. 3:17, en herschept alle
dingen sprekende door den Geest, Rom. 8:9v. 5o Deze
wedergeboorte onderstelt geenszins het bewuste leven en het
actieve willen. Zĳ heeft, als herstelling der schepping in Mt. 19:28,
zelfs het redeloos schepsel tot object; zĳ valt blĳkens enkele
voorbeelden in de Schrift in kinderen, voordat zĳ tot jaren des
onderscheids gekomen zĳn; immers is ook de kinderdoop gebouwd
op de onderstelling, dat kinderen zonder hun weten in Christus tot
genade kunnen aangenomen worden; zĳ gaat volgens Johannes’
evangelie aan het komen tot en gelooven in Christus vooraf. In al
deze gevallen is er eene wedergeboorte alleen door inwendige,
zonder uitwendige roeping. 6o Ook wanneer zĳ tĳdelĳk samenvalt
met of plaats heeft na de uitwendige roeping, δια λογου ζωντος θεου
και μενοντος, 1 Petr. 1:23, is zĳ zelve toch altĳd onmiddelĳk, wĳl zĳ
niet voortkomt uit het gepredikte woord, maar ἐκ πνευματος, Joh.
3:5, 6, 8, ἐκ σπορας ἀφθαρτου, 1 Petr. 1:23. De H. Geest werkt wel
met en door, maar zĳne werking is niet besloten binnen het
gepredikte woord; Hĳ maakt het zelf door de inwendige roeping tot
een λογος ἐμφυτος en doet daaruit het nieuwe leven te voorschĳn
komen. 7o Omdat het nieuwe leven echter nooit voortkomt noch
voorkomen kan dan uit het ingeplante woord en den Geest van
Christus, is het, zoodra het tot bewustzĳn ontwaakt, aan het
objectieve, uitwendige woord van Christus gebonden, dat met dat
inwendige hetzelfde evangelie tot inhoud heeft. Regel van leer en

Authenticity and Belonging in The Northern Soul Scene The Role of History and Identity in A Multigenerational Music Culture 1St Ed Edition Sarah Raine Full Chapter PDF

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Authenticity and Belonging in The Northern Soul Scene The Role of History and Identity in A Multigenerational Music Culture 1St Ed Edition Sarah Raine Full Chapter PDF

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Authenticity and Belonging in the

Northern Soul Scene: The Role of

An Anthropology of the Irish in Belgium: Belonging,

Song, Landscape, and Identity in Medieval Northern

Song, Landscape, and Identity in Medieval Northern

Literature of Girmitiya: History, Culture and Identity

The Role of the History of Mathematics in the

The History of Physical Culture in Ireland 1st Edition

IVF and Assisted Reproduction: A Global History 1st ed.

The Evolution of Music Through Culture and Science

More information about this series at

Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music

Cover illustration: Bradley Olson / EyeEm / GettyImages

Dancing on the edge of soul. My soul, your soul. A soul to be claimed: a

be regained in future moments on the floor, this changeable form solidify-

Edinburgh, UK Sarah Raine

and talking/writing about Write Club. And to my community of popular

1 We Share the Floor 1

3 “Let’s Talk It Over” 11

4 “I Got Something Good” 27

Being on the Inside 36

5 The History Lesson 51

6 “Back in the Day” 75

7 “I’m Where It’s At”109

The Place of Class in Northern Soul 128

8 “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me”153

9 “A Little Togetherness”195

We Share the Floor

© The Author(s) 2020 1

it works. Those around me move into the in-between spaces, a harmoni-

offers me a way into and through the scene. My competency is expressed

At the Peak of the Night

© The Author(s) 2020 5

longstanding personal experiences of the scene are worn proudly and

A Moment to Catch Our Breath

iPod. As a student of anthropology, it offered a world of rules and rituals

“Let’s Talk It Over”

Getting Into It: A Soul Nite in Staffordshire

© The Author(s) 2020 11

beginning of this research, I naively thought that weekends spent observ-

Practised through other such conversations, I set out my own introduc-

Negotiating a Place: The Record Stands at Rugby

Power Dynamics in a Multigenerational Music Scene

who contribute to this study, offering those people on the “outside” a

in academic research. And away from the dance floor, my knowledge of

their adult lives.11 In dedicating chapters, books and journal articles to

retrospective or contemporary experiences of the “original” generation,

involvement that remains inaccessible to newcomers. Northern soul, they

recognised by others as “authentic” without a personal claim to northern

“I Got Something Good”

Two Ballrooms in Blackpool

The Winter Gardens, February 2012

© The Author(s) 2020 27

The Blackpool Tower Weekender, November 2016

up as we wander through the backstreets and onto the front at such an

§ 44. Roeping en Wedergeboorte.

1. Door Woord en Geest brengt God de schepping, en ook de

3. Schrift en ervaring getuigen echter, dat al deze werkingen der

4. Deze roeping, in den zin van Paulus opgevat, komt daardoor

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Edinburgh, UK Sarah Raine

1 We Share the Floor 1

3 “Let’s Talk It Over” 11

4 “I Got Something Good” 27

Being on the Inside 36

5 The History Lesson 51

6 “Back in the Day” 75

7 “I’m Where It’s At”109

The Place of Class in Northern Soul 128

8 “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me”153

9 “A Little Togetherness”195