Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is Chair of the Worship Ministry Department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children.

Author Archives: Scott Aniol

What can the psalms teach us about good hymn tunes?

February 28th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Studying the inspired psalms can certainly teach us much about hymn texts, but can they also teach us about what makes a good hymn tune? Terry Johnson believes so: Many are quick to point out that God has not given us a book of tunes. No, but He has given us a book of lyrics… Continue Reading

Cultural superiority

February 27th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Quentin Faulkner makes the following assertion about polyphony and the western musical tradition: Polyphony is often cited as the major distinction of Western European art music. The development of complex formal structures could also be singled out for this honor. The attitude toward music that lies behind these accomplishments is, however, a more fundamentally distinctive… Continue Reading

Culture and Race

February 26th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 10 in the series Back to Basics You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Many Christians are talking about culture these days, but unfortunately few have given any serious thought to what culture is, especially in biblical terms. The term “culture” is a concept that has developed in the last few hundred years as a way to explain different behaviors between groups of people.1 British anthropologist Edward Tylor defined… Continue Reading

Article 6: On Beauty

February 25th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 17 in the series A Conservative Christian Declaration You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that beauty exists in reality and is to be the pursuit of every believer (Phil. 1:9–11). We also affirm that the recognition of beauty is fundamental to worship and devotion, and a right approach to God entails both a… Continue Reading

The good and bad of Christendom

February 20th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Hindsight is always 20/20, but when thinking about a past period in history, it is always important to be careful not to generalize or paint with a broad brush either praising or condemning an era. Such is the case when evaluating the Middle Ages, a period in which, from an Evangelical perspective, many heretical theology… Continue Reading

People of the Book

February 19th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 1 of 10 in the series Back to Basics You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Christians are people of the book. Conservative Evangelical Christians, in particular, demand that their beliefs and lives be governed by Scripture. Yet what, exactly, that means is not always clear, particularly when dealing with matters of Christian living. On the one hand, some Christians believe that the Bible is an exhaustive list of prescriptions and… Continue Reading

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Subjectivity

February 17th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 16 of 18 in the series Discussion about Christian Rap with Shai Linne You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Shai Linne and I are having a conversation between Christian brothers about Christian rap. This post will not make sense unless you start at the beginning of this discussion and read through all the posts. You can find the other posts in this discussion on this page or on the right hand side of this post. This is Shai’s answer to my… Continue Reading

What makes a hymn tune accessible?

February 13th, 2014 | 0 Comments

One of the qualities of a good hymn that is often cited is that a congregational song must be accessible. I wholeheartedly agree with this point: for a hymn to be congregational, it has to be, well, congregational! The congregation has to be able to sing it. In other words, there are some songs that,… Continue Reading

What does it take to keep you from corporate worship?

February 12th, 2014 | 0 Comments

In Wiser Than Despair, Quentin Faulkner argues that religion manifests itself in myth (divine revelation and doctrinal content), ethos (behavior or morals), and cult. After acknowledging that the term “cult” has “fallen into ill repute” today and insisting that it is nevertheless “crucial to the understanding of religion (and music in the service of religion), and… Continue Reading

The power of poetic meter

February 6th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Many factors contribute to how a hymn shapes its theological content. Here is one example of how the poetic meter of a text can shape its content in powerful ways. Consider this content: It is quiet in a house on Christmas Eve. Depending on poetic form, a poet can shape that content to feel either… Continue Reading

Is musical meaning subjective?

February 5th, 2014 | 0 Comments

One of the most difficult matters when engaging in a philosophy of music is the terms we employ. For example, the following terms often lack precision in discussion and thus cause confusion: relative subjective objective universal The first two terms are often equated with each other, as are the final two terms. In other words,… Continue Reading

Article 3: On Transcendent Absolutes

February 4th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 17 in the series A Conservative Christian Declaration You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that truth, goodness, and beauty are transcendent realities rooted in the nature of God and ultimately inseparable from each other (Phil. 4:8). Beliefs are true when they correspond to God’s understanding; acts are good when they correspond to God’s… Continue Reading

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Musical Analysis (Rebuttal)

February 3rd, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 15 of 18 in the series Discussion about Christian Rap with Shai Linne You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Preamble to "A Conservative Christian Declaration"

February 2nd, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 17 in the series A Conservative Christian Declaration You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

. In his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, Paul declared that he was “innocent of the blood” of all, because he had not shrunk from delivering to them “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26–27). At its core, conservative Christianity aims to follow Paul’s example in successfully transferring the whole counsel of God to… Continue Reading

On the death of a giant: Dwight Gustafson

January 31st, 2014 | 0 Comments

Dwight Gustafson was a giant of a man. You couldn’t help but look up to him–literally. Dr. Gus (as he was affectionately known) towered over most people. But he wasn’t just a giant physically. Dwight Gustafson, who passed away last Tuesday at the age of 83, was a giant in many ways. Dr. Gus was… Continue Reading

Should we change hymn lyrics to reflect our theology?

January 29th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Changing the lyrics of hymns we sing has a long, established precedent, and for good reason. If hymns are meant to be genuine expressions of corporate worship, then we should sing what we mean and mean what we sing. If a hymn is good, and yet there are one or two words or phrases we… Continue Reading

Basic order for Family Worship

January 27th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Tools for Family Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

My wife and I started family worship when our first child was very young, and I’m so glad we did. We started by calling it “Bible time” (a term we still often use), we’ve had periods of inconsistency, and our methods have varied, but the discipline of gathering together each evening for Bible reading, singing,… Continue Reading

Recommended Bible Memory Program for Families

January 23rd, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Tools for Family Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

My wife and I have tried to make Scripture memory a part of our family worship times, but we’ve struggled over the years to make this consistent. We began when our children were very young simply reciting through whole chapters of the Bible together every day, and this was actually very effective in memorizing large… Continue Reading

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Musical Analysis

January 22nd, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 14 of 18 in the series Discussion about Christian Rap with Shai Linne You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Conservative Change

January 20th, 2014 | 0 Comments

Those two words don’t seem to fit together, do they? Doesn’t “conservative” imply a reluctance to change? While it is true that conservative people are often portrayed as resistant to any change, and perhaps many conservatives warrant such a portrayal, I’d like to explore here a biblically conservative philosophy of change and demonstrate that often… Continue Reading