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

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Can Music Be Sinful?

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Can Music Be Sinful?

This entry is part 2 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.

The first question in our discussion goes to Shai Linne: Scott, in your recent post where you explained your comments on the NCFIC panel, you spoke of rap as “a form of music that is inherently denigrating.” My first question to you is this: Are you saying that music, apart from lyrics, can be sinful… Continue Reading

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Introduction

Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Introduction

This entry is part 1 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.

Over the next couple of weeks, Shai Linne (bio) and I will have a public discussion about Christian rap here on this site. I am grateful that Shai has asked to have this discussion. He and I spoke on the phone Saturday, we got know each other a bit, and we prayed together. I was… Continue Reading

Some answers to questions about my views on Reformed rap

Some answers to questions about my views on Reformed rap

Since Shai Linne is a busy church planter/assistant pastor, and I am a busy seminary professor in the last week of the semester, we’re finding that it’s taking a bit longer than we’d hoped to put together our discussion about Christian rap. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I’d like to answer a few questions that… Continue Reading

Coming Hope

Coming Hope

The following is the sermon I preached this morning in our church to kick off the Advent season: Audio You don’t have to turn on the news or visit a news web site very long to get very depressed. We live in a day of despair, threat of war, violence, murder, poverty, sickness, abortion, waning… Continue Reading

Thankfulness as a central worship affection

Thankfulness as a central worship affection

I have a theory I’d like to explore more at a later time, but I thought I’d offer some thoughts about it today considering the season. My theory is that the affection most directly connected to worship is thankfulness. Here are some reasons behind this theory: I have an untested observation that the idea of… Continue Reading

Panel discusses Reformed Rap

Panel discusses Reformed Rap

I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion at the Worship of God Conference sponsored by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. Here is a video of how the panel answered the question, “What about Reformed Rap?” [vimeo vimeo.com/80291749] Related: See my series on Christian rap. Continue Reading

Review of Worship in Song by Paige Patterson

Review of Worship in Song by Paige Patterson

Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, by Scott Aniol. Winona Lake, IL: BMH Books, 2009. Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, published by Scott Aniol in 2009, marks the advent of still another work in the conflicting genre of books on music and church. Aniol acknowledges the… Continue Reading

The Mission of Worship: An Assessment of the Missional Church Movement’s Impact Upon Evangelical Worship Philosophy and Practice

The Mission of Worship: An Assessment of the Missional Church Movement’s Impact Upon Evangelical Worship Philosophy and Practice

The following is the paper I presented yesterday at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society: PDF Audio Version Most church leaders readily recognize that God has tasked churches with several different purposes, yet how those purposes work together has equally mystified them. One of the most potentially difficult ministry relationships to reconcile has… Continue Reading

The significance of worship for the Great Commission

The significance of worship for the Great Commission

This article first appeared on The Artistic Theologian, the online theological journal of Southwestern Seminary’s School of Church Music. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the church its commission before he ascended to his Father: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of… Continue Reading

How does music mean?

How does music mean?

One of the most difficult matters to explain when dealing with issues of music in worship is how music communicates. I think most people intuitively understand that music communicates, but they have a hard time understanding how it does. Here is an excerpt from Sound Worship that succinctly summarizes how I explain it: Music is a medium of communication.… Continue Reading

What is the relationship between worship and evangelism?

What is the relationship between worship and evangelism?

Most church leaders readily recognize that God has tasked churches with several different purposes, yet how those purposes work together has equally mystified them. One of the most potentially difficult ministry relationships to reconcile has been that between worship and evangelism. In Inside Out: Worship in an Age of Mission (1999),1 Thomas H. Schattauer presents three… Continue Reading

Pentecostalism, emotion, and worship

Pentecostalism, emotion, and worship

W. Robert Godfrey provides1 a helpful look at how the Pentecostal movement impacted evangelicalism’s understanding of the nature of emotion (particularly physical expressiveness) in worship. He ties it directly to the revivalism of Charles G. Finney (out of which, along with the Holiness movement, Pentecostalism emerged), and this reveals an essential relationship between these movements… Continue Reading

Form and content are not easily separable

Form and content are not easily separable

Debates over worship usually center on the issue of form. “Don’t elevate form over content,” the progressives cry. “Content is what is important; it really doesn’t matter what aesthetic forms you use.” What I intend to demonstrate in this essay is the fact that separating form and content is not as simple as many progressives would imply.… Continue Reading

New Christmas devotional for families or individuals!

New Christmas devotional for families or individuals!

I am thrilled to announce the publication of a new daily devotional for the Christmas season by Pastor Taigen Joos! This devotional is perfect for both families and individuals to use as they prepare to worship Christ during the Christmas season. Each daily reading is a rich, yet brief meditation on an event or characteristic… Continue Reading

What “moves” you in worship?

What “moves” you in worship?

Which of the following scenario is a more meaningful worship experience? The 100 member choir and 50 piece orchestra combine in a rousing performance of Bach’s Cantata No. 182, a piece composed for Palm Sunday. The stage is full with a professional band, complete with drums, electric guitars, and a praise team. As the music… Continue Reading

Music: a Theological Orphan

Music: a Theological Orphan

Quentin Faulkner’s analysis of the impact of Romantic aesthetic philosophy on the church and its music is enlightening (pun intended) and helpful: The nineteenth century was the era of Romanticism, particularly in music. It was also the period in which Chrisianity began to reassemble and regroup its forces after its first disastrous encounter with Enlightenment ideas.… Continue Reading

Online Communion?

Online Communion?

The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry met recently in Nashville to discuss the relative merits of offering Communion online. You can find detailed background of the meeting here. Here is a portion of that article: The meeting follows growing discussions about online Eucharist in local churches around the globe, particularly in Europe, said the… Continue Reading

Subjectively universal

Subjectively universal

One of the most difficult matters when having debates over aesthetics (that is, beauty and meaning in the arts) 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… Continue Reading